May 14--LONGMONT, Colo. -- After waiting 13 months in the wings, DigitalGlobe Inc. is launching into the public market.

The Longmont-based provider of high-resolution satellite imagery priced its initial public offering at $19, which was above the previously estimated range, and raised $279.3 million through the sale of 14.7 million shares, according to news reports and IPO site Renaissance Capital.

Shares of DigitalGlobe Inc. are expected to begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DGI." The offering will help cover operational costs as the company plans to launch its next-generation satellite and take more precise and up-to-date photos.

While the deal is not huge by historical standards, analysts say it's another sign of life being breathed back into an IPO market that had the wind knocked out of it when the markets took a nose dive last fall.

"We're very optimistic that we're starting to see a turnaround in the IPO market," said Jacqueline Kelley, Ernst & Young LLP's Americas IPO leader.

DigitalGlobe is the fifth company to go public this year, and its offering is the third-largest nationwide during the past 12 months, according to data from Renaissance Capital, of Greenwich, Conn.

The deal was led by underwriters Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. An affiliate of Morgan Stanley, which acted as a placement agent for DigitalGlobe's 2006 offering of its common stock, is expected to own more than 14.3 million shares after the offering, or about 32 percent of the company. Other institutional investors include Beach Point Capital, Hitachi Software and Ball Technologies Holding Corp.

Most of the proceeds will go toward DigitalGlobe shareholders, with the company expecting to receive less than $20 million.

Of the four other companies to go public so far this year -- Rosetta Stone (RST), Bridgepoint Education (BPI), Changyou.com (CYOU) and Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) -- only Bridgepoint is trading below its IPO price.

"We've had some pretty solid companies come out (in the IPO market)," said Matt Therian, an analyst with Renaissance Capital. "These are profitable companies, have good cash flows, the kinds of companies we'd expect to come out when there's rough sledding."

And DigitalGlobe is no exception to that, he said.

"Overall demand pretty robust'

With the U.S. government as its No. 1 customer, and its images being used by the likes of Google, Microsoft and Nokia, DigitalGlobe saw its revenue increase nearly 82 percent to $275.5 million in 2008.

DigitalGlobe's net income before taxes nearly tripled to $91.9 million.