Goldman On Zillow: Traffic Growth Is Strong, Litigation Overhang Removed

According to the comScore data, unique visitors to Zillow Group, Inc.- Class A (NASDAQ: ZG) grew 32 percent year-on-year during April and May, consistent with 1Q.

Goldman Sachs’ Heath P. Terry maintains a Buy rating on the company, while raising the price target from $34 to $38.

Upside Expected

“We expect that the incremental inventory created by traffic growth could drive modest upside to 2Q estimates, as home sales remain robust and agent demand for incremental inventory remains high,” Terry mentioned.

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Given that summer is the strongest, seasonally, for real estate, and with the easing of comps in 2Q, the analyst expects upside to the consensus forecasts.

For the longer term, Terry believes that “Zillow’s ability to gain share against the $50 billion real estate commission pool more in line with its share of the online channel should drive financial and stock price outperformance.”

Litigation Overhang Removed

On June 7, Zillow had announced that it had agreed to pay $130 million to settle the litigation claims associated with Move and the National Association of Realtors.

The adjusted EBITDA estimate for 2016 has been raised by $14 million to reflect expectations of lower legal expenses in June and 2016, following the settlement.