Zillow Beats Expectations, Lifts Sales View
May 03 2016 - 6:00PM
Dow Jones News
Zillow Group Inc. narrowed its loss for the first quarter as the
online real-estate company's revenue climbed amid a growing user
base.
Following the bigger-than-expected sales increase, Zillow lifted
its revenue forecast for the year. Shares in the company, up 43%
over the past three months, gained 12% in after-hours trading.
The Seattle company, which operates online real-estate portals
used by house hunters and real-estate agents, acquired its former
rival Trulia last year. In its latest move to grow its footprint,
Zillow in February closed its purchase of Naked Apartments, a New
York City rental-search platform, for $13 million.
Zillow said it averaged more than 166 million unique visitors
during March, up 22% from a year earlier and a level the company
said marks a record high. For the full quarter, Zillow said average
monthly unique users were about 156 million, helping to push its
market share up to 65% of the mobile and Web real estate
audience.
Real estate revenue jumped 34% during the period to $152.5
million, while mortgage revenue surged 65% to $16.5 million. Those
increases offset a 34% drop in display revenue, a decrease Zillow
attributed to a shift to de-emphasize display advertising. Zillow
has traditionally brought in a big chunk of its money from
advertising purchased by realtors. Revenue comparisons exclude
sales from the Market Leader business which was divested in the
third quarter of last year.
Over all, the company reported a loss of $47.6 million, or 27
cents a share, narrower than its year-earlier loss of $58.4
million, or 40 cents a share. Excluding acquisition-related costs
and income taxes, among other items, Zillow posted a loss of 13
cents a share, compared with earnings of 2 cents a share a year
earlier.
Revenue rose 25% to $186 million, excluding sales from Market
Leader. Analysts projected an adjusted loss of 17 cents a share and
revenue of $176.8 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
The company recorded a $15.7 million in legal costs during the
first quarter, stemming from a lawsuit with News Corp, which owns
Zillow competitor Move Inc. News Corp. also owns Dow Jones &
Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. That expense roughly
doubled from the fourth quarter. Zillow said legal costs from the
suit will range between $50 million and $55 million this year.
Zillow said it now expects to log $825 million to $835 million
in sales this year, up from earlier guidance of $805 million to
$815 million. For the current quarter, the company anticipates $203
million to $208 million in revenue, above the $193.6 million
analysts have estimated.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 03, 2016 17:45 ET (21:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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