Zillow’s share price slipped a bit Friday after Citron Resarch published its second report in two years calling out the online real estate company while predicting a poor financial future.
In the 12-page report, Citron criticized Zillow for “juicing” revenues in the second quarter with higher sales and marketing spending.
Citron published a similar report about one year ago, saying then that Zillow had a “business model that never worked.” In this year’s report, Citron continued its Zillow bashing, adding that the company is not unique and “operates a business without a moat.”
“The Zestimate in no longer unique to them and they are nowhere with regard to becoming a leader in rentals or mortgage,” Citron wrote. “Just read any real estate website and see the stream of news that comes out on the many competitors of Zillow. We know the truth, management obviously knows the truth (obvious through amount of insider selling) now you know the truth.”
The stock started the day at $98.45 and dipped below $90 at one point before ending the week at $92.02.
Zillow’s shares have been on fire this year, topping $100 per share for the first time just recently. Zillow went public at $20 per share in July 2011, and the stock is up a whopping 115 percent this year and has a market value of $3.49 billion.
Here’s the full report from Citron.
