Zillow shares surge as home segment boosts revenue

(Reuters) -Shares of Zillow Group Inc rose 13% on Friday after the online real estate firm's fourth-quarter revenue handily beat estimates, helped by a strong performance at its home segment.

The segment, which helps customers list their properties for sale, marked an 11-fold rise in revenue as Zillow managed to sell inventory faster and at better prices despite setbacks due to the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The results hint at a turn in Zillow's fortunes. The company's shares slumped nearly 50% in November, when unpredictable home prices forced Zillow to announce a surprise exit from its business of flipping houses.

As part of the exit, Zillow is selling more properties to New York-based investment firm Pretium Partners, Bloomberg News reported https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-11/zillow-selling-more-homes-to-pretium-as-flipping-effort-ends?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google&sref=WJKVI5nK on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Pretium recently bought more than 800 properties from Zillow for nearly $300 million and signed a roughly $150 million agreement to acquire 400 more, according to the report.

Zillow reported quarterly revenue of $3.88 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $2.98 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Several brokerages raised their price targets on the company's stock, on Zillow's move toward a "housing super app", with the company aiming to integrate the processes related to buying or selling a house.

Zillow's shares were trading at $54.37.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Shounak Dasgupta)

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