CoStar’s revenue rises, but profits drop

Second-quarter sales were $35M, down from $59M a year ago

CoStar CEO Andy Florance (Getty)
CoStar CEO Andy Florance (Getty)

CoStar Group’s second-quarter profits slid 4.5 percent to $60 million as it incurred higher operating costs and slower sales during the pandemic.

During the quarter, the data giant reported $35 million in net new sales, down from $59 million during the same period last year. But as sales picked up during reopening, CoStar said it notched a record $22 million net new sales in June.

Despite the pandemic, CoStar said its quarterly revenue jumped 16 percent year-over-year to $397 million.

With a $24 billion market cap, CoStar was already the biggest data provider in the U.S. before it announced in May it would buy Ten-X for $190 million. The deal boosted its presence in the distressed real estate space. CoStar subsequently raised $2.7 billion in debt and equity to fund acquisitions.

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In a statement, CoStar CEO Andy Florance said the company’s results “indicate that our business is not only resilient but is in fact clearly countercyclical.” Traffic to CoStar’s websites rose 13 percent year-over-year to a record 62 monthly unique visitors. The company finished the quarter with $3.8 billion in cash.

The company also reinstated its 2020 guidance, which it suspended in the early weeks of the pandemic. CoStar projected $1.63 billion to $1.64 billion in 2020 revenue, which would be a 17 percent gain year-over-year. CoStar said Ten-X would contribute $25 million to $30 million of its total revenue.

In February, CoStar said it generated $1.4 billion in revenue last year. The company’s net income rose 32 percent year-over-year to $315 million.

Write to E.B. Solomont at eb@therealdeal.com