Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of SouFun Holdings (SFUN) jumped more than 10% Monday after the Chinese real estate Internet portal announced that it will launch a financial services platform on Dec. 16.
So what: Dubbed the "SouFun Financial Services Channel," the company says its platform will at first focus on bringing third-party financial products and services to its members. This in mind, SouFun also states it's not only planning on teaming up with qualified financial institutions on joint financial products in the near future, but is also developing its own financial products to be offered down the road.
Now what: SouFun is coming off a solid quarter with which it beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and the stock has already risen 190% so far this year. Even so, the solidly profitable company is still growing quickly with no end in sight for its momentum. With shares currently trading at just 18 times next year's estimated earnings and given this promising new catalyst, I think SouFun could still prove a bargain for patient long-term investors.
