Publicly traded real estate companies will report second-quarter earnings this week and next, likely giving spectators a look at just how much COVID-19 impacted the overall businesses of these companies, in terms of revenue and expenses, when the country locked down for the first time in March.
While home sales did tumble at the height of the COVID-19-fueled lockdown, the number of sales and the price of homes has roared back in a strong way.
A few of the publicly-traded companies are currently trading near historic highs in terms of share values, after plummeting to historic lows in March as equity markets tumbled. Companies like Zillow and Redfin nearly tripled their per-share stock price, in the past few months.
A number of the top companies, like Redfin and eXp World Holdings, were also forced to enact mass layoffs and furloughs of employees, at the height of the downturn.
John Campbell, managing director of equity research for financial services firm Stephens, told Inman on Tuesday he’ll be watching how companies describe future recovery plans during earnings calls this week and next week.
“I don’t think it’s going to come as much of a surprise to most investors that consensus estimates are largely stale across much of the space,” Campbell said. “Winding back the clock to late April/early May when these companies last reported and analysts set forecasts, housing trends were awful and there was a considerable degree of uncertainty in the broader outlook. While there’s been a scattering of updates along the way, I still think you’re largely seeing that sour outlook embedded in consensus estimates.”
“All that to say, you’re likely to see big quarterly beats this go round, but it needs to be taken in with the backdrop of easy hurdles to hit,” Campbell added. “We think most investors are going to be more focused on the outlook and how companies like Redfin, Zillow, RE/MAX and Realogy handle guidance and talk to the sustainability of the recovery underway. That’s what’s likely to dictate where a lot of these stocks go from here.”
Here’s a company-by-company breakdown of some the industry’s top publicly-traded companies and the benchmarks they are hoping to clear:
Realogy
Realogy — the parent company of the nation’s largest brokerage, Realogy Brokerage Group, as well as franchise brands like Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Sotheby’s International Real Estate, and others — is reporting it’s second-quarter earnings on Thursday, July 30, around the time the markets close. The company’s earnings call will take place at 5 p.m. EDT that same day.
The consensus estimate has the company reporting earning per share of $0.09 and reporting $1.1 billion in total revenue, according to CNN Money. In the second quarter of 2019, Realogy posted $1.7 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $0.83.
Redfin
Redfin, the tech-focused, Seattle-based brokerage, is set to report company earnings on Thursday, July 30, 2020, after markets close. An earnings call will follow the same day at 4:30 p.m. EDT.
The consensus estimate has the company reporting a loss per share of $0.23 and reporting $185.9 million in total revenue, according to CNN Money. In the second quarter of 2019, Redfin posted $71.4 million in revenue and a net loss per share of $0.14.
RE/MAX
RE/MAX, one of the nation’s largest real estate franchisors, is set to report company earnings on Thursday, August 6, 2020, after markets close. The company will host a conference call the next morning, at 8:30 a.m. EDT, to discuss the results.
The consensus estimate has the company reporting earning per share of $0.39 and reporting $52.1 million in total revenue, according to CNN Money. In the second quarter of 2019, RE/MAX posted $71.4 million in revenue and earnings per share of $0.65.
Zillow
Zillow, the Seattle-based real estate tech company, is set to report company earnings on Thursday, August 6, after markets close. The company will host a conference call at 5 p.m. EDT, the same day to discuss the results.
The consensus estimate has the company reporting a loss per share of $0.48 and reporting $618 million in total revenue, according to CNN Money. In the second quarter of 2019, Zillow posted $$599.6 million in revenue and a net loss per share of $0.35. However, as Zillow has scaled its iBuyer business, the company reported more than $1 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2020, for the first time in company history.
EXp World Holdings
EXp World Holdings, the parent company of virtual cloud-based real estate brokerage eXp Realty, is yet to publicly announce a time for the release of its quarterly earnings.
The consensus estimate has the company reporting earning per share of $0.02 and reporting $284 million in total revenue, according to CNN Money. In the second quarter of 2019, eXp World Holdings posted $266.7 million, in revenue and a loss per share of $0.04.
