Shares of Zillow surged today after Citigroup Global Markets analyst Mark Mahaney said that the Seattle online real estate company’s growth prospects remain strong. Mahaney placed a $36 per share price target on Zillow, noting that the company could double revenue this year.
The stock also responded to remarks from CEO Spencer Rascoff who appeared on CNBC Tuesday, noting that the company that the company can perform well in both good times and bad. (Something he echoed in an interview with GeekWire last month).
Investors responded, sending shares of the company up more than eight percent. (Now trading at about $35.75). That means the company is closing on a billion dollar valuation, with the market cap now hovering around $963 million.
Zillow — which is moving into new offices in downtown Seattle this week — posted its first profit as a publicly-traded company earlier this month. That too sent the stock soaring, with the shares of Zillow up more than 48 percent in the past five days.
As GeekWire previously reported, there is an incentive for Zillow insiders to keep the stock above $25 per share. Insiders could sell some of their stock after just 90 days if the stock trades above that threshold. (Right now, they are looking pretty good).
Zillow went public on July 20th at $20 per share, raising $80 million. Citigroup was the primary underwriter on the IPO.
Previously on GeekWire: Housing woes don’t slow down Zillow: Company plans to boost hiring as traffic hits record levels
