What happened
The stock market hasn't exactly had a strong couple of days. After suffering the worst one-day declines of the year so far on Thursday, all three major market indexes were well in the red at 12:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
Real estate brokerage and technology company Redfin (RDFN -4.17%) was a rare bright spot, however. Shares were rising sharply on Friday, up by 10% midday.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
As you might expect, Redfin's move is earnings related. For starters, the company beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Revenue came in about 8% higher than analysts had expected, and while the company posted a net loss, it was significantly narrower than what analysts were looking for.
Beyond the headline numbers:
- Redfin continued to grow its market share -- it had 1.18% of existing home sales in the U.S., up from 1.16% a year ago.
- Its mobile apps and website had 11% more active users than a year ago.
- For the second quarter (which is seasonally stronger than the first in the housing market), the company expects 34% year-over-year revenue growth at the midpoint of its guidance range.
- The RedfinNow iBuying business roughly quadrupled its revenue year over year.
Now what
Redfin's first-quarter numbers were strong all around, despite a difficult and sluggish real estate market. If the company can keep up its growth in the second quarter, even with mortgage rates rising and low home inventories, it will be a very impressive achievement and could cause the stock to make another upside move.
