Zillow took another loss in the first quarter, but came out ahead of expectations.
The company posted an adjusted EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — of $104 million in the first quarter, Bloomberg reported. Analysts estimated the company would only post $60 million.
The company lost $22 million, according to Inman, a flip from the $16 million profit it reported in last year’s first quarter. But the total was down from the fourth quarter, when the company lost $72 million.
Zillow’s first quarter revenue was $469 million, down 13 percent year-over-year. The first quarter of 2022 was a different world, however, as the last quarter before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes roiled the housing market.
The biggest loser for Zillow was its mortgage business, where revenue dropped 43 percent year-over-year. The residential segment of the company also didn’t fare well, with its revenue plummeting 14 percent from the previous year. Its Premier Agent lead-generation program also fell, though by less than the company anticipated.
Zillow’s beacon of hope last quarter was the company’s rental business. Revenue in the segment rose 21 percent year-over-year.
The company in a statement called this year “critical” and said it was focused on building a “super app.” Zillow this week announced a ChatGPT plugin that allows select users
users to search for homes with conversational prompts.
Chief executive officer Rich Barton sounded an optimistic note, but admitted it was still a challenging time in the market.
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“While we may see rates come down at any time,” he said, “we are certainly not counting on it.”
Shares in the company dropped on Wednesday before hitting a sudden spike during after-hours trading following the earnings statement. The stock is up roughly 33 percent from the start of the year and Zillow had a market capitalization of roughly $9.9 billion prior to Wednesday’s earnings release.
— Holden Walter-Warner