Shares of Redfin were falling sharply Friday after the online real estate brokerage said it expected a first-quarter loss wider than analysts’ estimates.
Redfin (ticker: RDFN) declined 24.4% to $21.67 on Friday. It has declined about 40% year to date.
The company said it expects to report a loss in the first quarter of $115 million to $125 million vs. analysts’ forecasts that called for a loss of $75 million. For all of 2021, the company lost $109.6 million.
Redfin said it expects first-quarter revenue of $535 million to $560 million. Revenue at the company’s properties segment, which including iBuying — a business that rival Zillow (Z) has been exiting — was forecast at between $330 million to $350 million.
For the fourth quarter, Redfin reported a loss of 27 cents a share vs. a profit of 11 cents a year earlier. Analysts expected a fourth-quarter loss of 31 cents.
“Fourth-quarter revenues and net income exceeded our expectations,” said Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman in a statement. “More importantly, Redfin is broadening its sources of customer value and corporate income, with title, mortgage, and iBuying now on track to generate gross profits, after years of being subsidized by our brokerage.
“Entering an uncertain market, Redfin’s pricing power and on-demand service will let us take share and improve operating margins.”
Analysts at RBC Capital Markets downgraded their rating on Redfin shares to Sector Perform from Outperform, and lowered their price target on the stock to $23 from $60.
“We throw in the towel on RDFN as the primary points of our thesis appear broken and unlikely to show enough improvement in the coming year to warrant an Outperform rating,” RBC analysts wrote in a research note.
They added that share gains at Redfin “are simply not materializing at a fast enough rate,” and said “home inventory challenges” and “lack of secular story should make for slower growth.”
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
