Roku soars more than 65% in its trading debut (ROKU)

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Roku skyrocketed Thursday in its first day of trading as a public company.

Shares opened for trading at $15.78, about 13% higher than their $14 initial public offering price. They closed the day at $23.26, up about 66.14%.

Roku was seeking $12 to $14 per share in its IPO and landed at the high end of that range. The company valued at $1.3 billion after the IPO.

Roku went public right as the streaming video war heats up. Disney made waves when it announced it would be creating its own ESPN and Disney movie and TV show streaming services. Netflix is the current host of Disney's movie and TV content.

CBS and FX networks recently upped the profiles of their streaming services. CBS promoted its service by premiering the highly anticipated "Star Trek: Discovery" series on cable but placing a majority of the show behind a paywall on its streaming service. FX began offering an additional, on-demand package for traditional cable customers who want to watch FX content ad-free.

Roku makes hardware and software solutions for the rapidly splintering streaming video sector. The company lets its customers add their streaming services to a single device which allows access to many of these services in one place.

The company is trying to diversify though, and move into the higher-margin business of advertising.

The business does not currently turn a profit. The company has faced some criticism of its dual-class share structure that allows the current executives to retain control of 98% of the company, even after the IPO.

Roku trades under the ticker "ROKU" on the Nasdaq exchange.