What happened
Shares of ANGI Homeservices (ANGI 35.22%) fell steadily over the course of Thursday's session after the company, which is majority-owned by IAC (IAC +2.15%), posted middling metrics for the month of September.
The stock finished the trading day down by 13.3%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
ANGI Homeservices, the parent of HomeAdvisor, Angie's List and Handy, reported just 9% revenue growth in September, a slowdown from the 12% growth it reported in August. Its core marketplace business focused around HomeAdvisor saw top-line growth of 12%, down from 15% in August.
Those weaker numbers came in spite of strong demand for home services. The company said marketplace service requests were up 30% in September, but marketplace monetized transactions only increased by 10%, showing an imbalance between supply and demand.
Home improvement demand has been strong across the board since the tighter lockdowns imposed earlier in the pandemic were relaxed, according to Census Bureau data and results from Home Depot and Lowe's. However, ANGI Homeservices has struggled to take advantage because some home service providers it works with laid off workers during the peak of crisis or are avoiding certain types of jobs for safety reasons. Also, given the high levels of demand, some service providers may also be able to get enough work through word of mouth, meaning they don't need to utilize intermediaries like HomeAdvisor and Angie's List.
Piper Sandler analyst Tom Champion also called the results a modest negative for ANGI.
Now what
With the September numbers in the books, the full picture of ANGI's third-quarter results becomes clearer. Revenue for the quarter rose around 9%, well below the company's long-term target of 20%, even though marketplace service requests jumped 29%. The long-term impact of the pandemic may end up being a net positive for ANGI as Americans reorient their homes around remote work and make other improvements, but for now, the imbalance between supply and demand is clearly costing the company.
