Shares of Zillow Group Inc. ZG, +1.65% Z, +1.38% were headed nearly 6% higher in Thursday afternoon trading. Jefferies analyst John Colantuoni reiterated his bullish view of the online real-estate company earlier Thursday, writing that he saw “upside potential” for the third quarter based on housing data. He remains upbeat about Zillow’s long-term story given the company’s investments in areas like touring, financing, and seller services, as well as a partnership with Opendoor. “We also believe Z’s dominant share of [real-estate] traffic provides various pathways to above-market growth,” Colantuoni wrote. “While macro concerns could keep the stock rangebound [near term], we see an attractive setup into 2023 stemming from near-trough valuation, a 7% FCF [free-cash-flow] yield, and potential improvement in housing data.” Zillow shares have declined 42% so far this year as the S&P 500 SPX, +1.53% has lost 17%.
