Twitter's Stock Opens 73 Percent Above IPO Price

It's business as usual at Twitter's headquarters following the most highly anticipated stock debut since Facebook's last year, while an analyst says the high debut price suggests the IPO was managed well.

Twitter is trading under the ticker symbol "TWTR." Twitter's stock opened at $45.10, or 73 percent above its IPO price, valuing Twitter at more than $31 billion. Expect some volatility throughout the day, though: It has traded as high as $50.09 and is now at $45.04.

Twitter priced the initial public offering of stock at $26 per share, valuing the company at more than $18 billion based on its outstanding stock, options and restricted stock that'll be available after the IPO. The pricing means the short messaging service will raise $1.8 billion in the offering, before expenses.

The high price comes despite the fact that Twitter has never turned a profit in seven years of existence. Revenue has been growing, but the company is also investing heavily in more data centers and hiring more employees.