Zillow
The fast-growing real estate website delivered better-than-expected quarterly results last night, just as it did three months ago in its first financial report as a public company.
Zillow saw its third-quarter revenue soar 132% to $19.1 million. Adjusted earnings clocked in at $0.05 a share. Analysts were banking on a tweaked profit of just $0.03 a share on $17.1 million in revenue.
Zillow's success comes at a peculiar time. The residential real estate market is still feeling its way for a bottom. Realtor.com parent Move
So what's the secret to Zillow's success? A hook always helps. Just as priceline.com
Easily accessible proprietary data is a potent hook, and Zillow attracted an average of 24.2 million unique monthly visitors to its website and mobile app, more than double the audience it was reach a year earlier.
If Zillow is where the homeowners, buyers, and sellers are hanging out that's where real estate agents will be, affording the dot-com darling the opportunity to milk juicy display advertising and marketplace revenue. Zillow has been able to take a page out of the Bankrate
This has been a year of busted IPOs, but Zillow stands tall after back-to-back blowout quarters -- well above its $20 debutante price in July.
Zillow is the pretty house in an ugly neighborhood. Deal with it.
If you want to see if the dot-com speedster can keep that new house smell going add Zillow to My Watchlist.