Normally, an analyst offering up a note of approval means good things for a stock. But sometimes it just does not help, as online real estate company Zillow (Z) proved today. Despite an upgrade from KeyBanc analyst Sergio Segura, that still was not enough for Zillow shares to see anything more than a fractional dip in shares.
Segura hiked the rating from Sector Weight to Overweight, and its price target is currently $100 per share, a substantial upside. Basically, Segura believes that the housing market is likely to improve, and when that happens, Zillow should be in a good position to take advantage of those gains thanks to its experience as a real estate app, as well as its innovative product offering.
Plus, of course, the rise of existing home sales should prove a catalyst to future growth, which makes sense; a rising tide in the housing market would lift Zillow's boat accordingly. Yet even if an upswing in the housing market never comes to pass -- which would likely require substantial interest rate cuts that the Fed does not seem interested in providing -- Segura still looks for "upside potential to consensus estimates" even without that help.
And Zillow has been offering up some opinion and study on the housing market as a whole, too. For instance, those looking for an easy time buying a house should find it in Milwaukee, reports noted. Zillow found Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be among the "least competitive housing markets for 2025." It is currently among the lowest numbers in the 50 hottest real estate markets for 2025, as measured by several factors like number of days listed on available houses and potential changes in labor markets.
Miami proved to be one of the leading real estate markets, meanwhile, it came in at number 15 on the list. That is up from last year's figure that put it at number 25 on the list overall, thanks to a combination of high demand and growth in overall house prices. The top three, meanwhile, were Buffalo, New York; Indianapolis Indiana; and Providence, Rhode Island.
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on Z stock based on three Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 46.07% rally in its share price over the past year, the average Z price target of $92.20 per share implies 12.43% upside potential.