Redfin first quarter results: The Seattle real estate company saw a 40% surge in revenue in the first quarter, reporting $268 million in sales. Its gross profit soared 229% to $42 million, and its net loss was cut nearly in half to $36 million compared to the first quarter of 2020. Its net loss came out to 37 cents per share. The consensus analyst revenue estimate for the quarter was $253 million, while the earnings per share estimate was -34 cents per share. Full results here.
What the execs are saying: “After scrambling in the second half of 2020 to hire enough agents and lenders to handle a pandemic-driven surge in demand, Redfin is just about hitting on all cylinders,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman.
Key numbers: RedfinNow, the company’s direct home buying and selling service, sold 171 homes in the first quarter. That was the same number as the first quarter of 2020, and was up from 83 in the fourth quarter of 2020. Redfin’s market share in the U.S. residential market now stands at 1.14%, up from 0.93 percent share for the same period last year. The company’s monthly average unique visitors for the quarter stood at 46.2 million, up from 35.5 million in the first quarter of last year.
Real estate headwinds: One of the company’s biggest challenges: Keeping up with the growth. Redfin’s Kelman said they’ve been hiring “hand over fist” to try to keep up with the demand, but upcoming headwinds they may see in market share growth are attributable to the low inventory of homes for sale. Kelman said they are trying to reduce agent attrition, and want to do better than industry averages. But he also noted it’s tough for new agents because there are now more agents than there are houses for sale.
Looking ahead: Redfin says it expects revenue of $446 million to $457 million in the second quarter — showing the seasonality in the company’s real estate business. That’s a projected increase of between of 109% to 114% compared to last year. Included in those estimates are $41 million to $42 million of revenue from RentPath, the online rental services business Redfin acquired for $608 million in February.
How’s the stock doing? Shares of Redfin — which have more than tripled in the past year — fell more than 5% in Wednesday trading. They fell another 2% in after hours trading. The company boasts a market value of $6.4 billion.
Redfin vs. Zillow: Redfin’s results come a day after its crosstown real estate rival Zillow Group released first quarter earnings that exceeded expectations. Buoyed by a strong housing market, Zillow yesterday reported $1.2 billion in first quarter revenue, and net income of $52 million. Shares of Zillow fell more than 7% on Wednesday, with the company’s market value now at $27 billion.
