Rightmove shares tumble after big bank tells investors to sell

Rightmove suffered one of the worst drops on the Stock Market this week after a major US bank advised shareholders to sell.

The shares fell 22p or 3.9% to 542p, after JP Morgan, America’s largest bank, told investors to dump their holdings in the portal, The Times reports.

Challenge

Analysts at the bank said Rightmove may have underestimated the challenge presented by OnTheMarket after its takeover by American property data company CoStar.

And they fear the cost involved in defending its position as market leader ahead of Zoopla and OnTheMarket may hit its finances.

Dominance

Rightmove’s shares have dipped more than 6% in the last five days to 532p.

OTM was bought by CoStar in a £100 million deal in October in a move that was clearly designed to challenge the dominance of Rightmove in the portal listings market.

Multinational investment bank Citigroup later issued a recommendation to sell Rightmove shares after seeing their value drop from around 588p when the deal was announced to 463p.

Competition

Property experts now see OTM, with CoStar’s backing, as much more serious competition to market leaders Rightmove and Zoopla.

CoStar plans to spend £46.5 million on sales and marketing in the first full year following the takeover, “as the first stage of a multi-year investment programme totalling hundreds of millions of pounds to drive more consumers to the OnTheMarket portal”.

This is six times what OnTheMarket currently spends, and more than three times the current annual media spend of Rightmove.

Big estate agency backs OnTheMarket – but Zoopla misses out