Liberum has doubled down on its positive view of online property portal Rightmove (RMV) reiterating its buy recommendation and hiking its price target from £42.95 to £50.
The target implies upside of 25% and a near 15-fold increase on its 2006 IPO price of 335p.
We took a detailed look at the wider space here. Analyst Ian Whittaker says: 'Rightmove has an enviable position as the dominant leader in a growing market with high barriers to entry and potential to triple ARPA in the long term.'
According to Liberum this ability to triple ARPA or average revenue per advertiser is down to the company's market leading position.
Broadly the argument is that its site has the most listings and is therefore the one which prospective property buyers will go to when looking for their next home. This reinforces its position as a must-have product for estate agencies and gives it significant pricing power when it comes to securing subscriptions from agencies.
Liberum makes the comparison with US peer Zillow Group which is says trades on around 61 times 2017 earnings.
'This is a significant premium to Rightmove and we believe that Rightmove should re-rate as the value of its dominant position crystallises and the continued scope to grow ARPA is recognised,' Whittaker adds. 'At our target price Rightmove will trade on an FY’17 P/E of c.32x which more accurately reflects Rightmove’s value.'