Out Fox The $treet

The real estate market needs a destination site on a domestic and possibly global basis, and that's what makes Zillow ( NASDAQ: Z     ) such an interesting investment prospect. The top online real estate marketplace could eventually rival the valuations of a LinkedIn or Priceline.com , which average more than $40 billion now. The biggest issue in the real estate sector continues to be the lack of a comprehensive solution that incorporates all houses listed for sale. Several listing networks limit real estate listings to internal networks, hence the reason for the Trulia ( NYSE: TRLA     ) purchase of Market Leader. The other threat has been Move, ( NASDAQ: MOVE     ) which runs Realtor.com. But both of those situations involve operating under the influence of Realtors instead of home buyers who want an independent website to view. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long Z. Please review the disclaimer page for more details....

Now that Zillow ( NASDAQ: Z     ) has sold off to the tune of 10% following competitor Trulia 's ( NYSE: TRLA     ) earnings, investors need to refocus on the solid takeaways from Zillow's own strong earnings. Zillow and Trulia are battling in the rapidly developing online real estate market with Realtor.com operator Move ( NASDAQ: MOVE     ) . By total traffic metrics and market capitalization, Zillow is the leader in the sector, but the competitors are spending heavily in an attempt to close that lead. The key takeaways from the fourth-quarter earnings report is that Zillow continues to expand the leadership position in traffic to real estate sites. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Zillow ( NASDAQ: Z     ) is facing increasing pressure for the leadership position in the online real estate marketplace. The recent purchase of Market Leader by Trulia ( NYSE: TRLA     ) places it in a more comparable position based on revenue. Move ( NASDAQ: MOVE     ) continues to make long-needed enhancements to realtor.com, but it has fallen far behind the monthly unique users, or MUUs, of Zillow and Trulia. The previous week's earnings call for Zillow provided several key numbers that suggest the leadership position isn't as much in question. While Trulia made a big step forward on the professional agent aspect of the business, it fell even further behind on traffic to its core sites. In addition, Move recently got approval to become more competitive via quicker updates to the primary website, but the consumer traffic levels suggest it might be too far behind to catch up. After all, President Obama chose Zillow to participa...

When a stock drops by more than 6% in one day due to a research report, long-term investors need to see if any issues were brought up that change the investment thesis. On Friday, Zillow ( NASDAQ: Z     ) plunged nearly $10 at one point on the back of a negative report by Citron Research. In some regards, the situation is even more pressing in a stock such as Zillow, which had gained more than 330% off the bottom prior to the report on Friday. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned.

One thing that really stands out in the Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) quarterly report is that the monetization of the Zillow real estate properties is finally taking place in full force. Whether the real estate collapse destroyed demand or it has just taken a while to develop a monetization strategy, and especially one that includes a site that is 70% mobile on the weekends, the company is finally hitting in full more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the market close on Tuesday, Trulia (NYSE: TRLA ) reported results that missed analyst estimates. The stock though jumped after hours based on the rapid revenue growth and guidance. The online marketplace for real estate has been on a tear of late and the latest news apparently didn’t disappoint those stockholders. Are investors overly excited about the prospects of a stock trading at nearly 10 times revenue estimates that more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The housing market has been depressed for over 5 years now. During that time period several smaller, housing-related internet stocks have gone public to mostly limited fanfare. These stocks could provide some under-the-radar opportunities as the housing market rebounds in the coming years. The market is well aware of the homebuilding stocks that have soared this year such as KB Homes (KBH) or the major home improvement retailers like Home Depot (HD) and Lowe's (LOW). What about the internet-related housing stocks such as Bankrate (RATE), Market Leader (LEDR), Move (MOVE), or Zillow (Z)? The market is very infatuated with the social media stocks such as the upcoming Facebook IPO or Zynga (ZNGA). Instead of focusing on these stocks, why not buy into a sector of the internet that isn't hot? Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long HD and LOW. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.