MRV Comms Jumps with Optical IPO Filing

Ah, MRV Communications (MRVC). The perennial also-ran in networking equipment is seeing its shares rise nearly 22% today to $2.50 after it announced that it is selling a unit of the company called Source Photonics, which makes some of the transceivers used in the fiber-to-the-home networks being deployed by AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ). The S1 filing is here.

Funny thing about it is, Source had about $140 million in sales last year when one includes the results of a company called Fiberxon, which MRV picked up this past July — a deal that had analysts scratching their heads at the time.

So, Maybe MRV’s having a good laugh on the analysts today. Could this be another IPO like Cypress Semi (CY)/Sunpower (SPWR) or EMC (EMC)/VMware (VMW), where the parent gains increasing luster by dint of its ownership in a hot young tech IPO? Hmmm.

The IPO pop that MRV is getting is reminiscent of the bounce in Emcore shares (EMKR) in the past week, partly as a result of that company’s purchasing the fiber-optic assets of Intel (INTC) last week. (Though in Emcore’s case, there’s also the lure of solar technology applications.)

The offering prospectus says the IPO, lead by Cowen & Co. and Credit Suisse, could have an aggregate offering of $130 million in Source stock, though that’s purely a guestimate at this point.