Out Fox The $treet

Summary Zillow announces that the CFO is departing the company on August 7. The company isn't going to see the typical seasonal stock gains. The recommendation is for investors to sit on the sidelines until the Trulia merger and CFO issues are resolved, possibly providing a seasonal buying opportunity in the fall.    The after hours news for Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) isn't very encouraging. The online real estate marketplace continues to feel the impact from a messy integration from the Trulia merger and the latest impact is the CFO leaving the building. The stock that peaked over $160 on the initial announcement of the supposed game-changing merger is now struggling to hold $80 in initial trading after this news.  Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

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. 

Though Sears Holdings ( NASDAQ: SHLD     ) soared nearly 12% during the trading session last Tuesday on news of further transformational transactions to unlock value, investors shouldn't be surprised by the announcement. Sears is one of the largest retailers in the U.S., but most investors don't realize the numerous business units that are hidden under the surface. The media has mostly spun the plans for Lands End and Sears Auto Centers, or SAC, as "liquidation moves", but investors should note the proposals don't involve raising cash from these units. Read the article here . Disclosure: Long SHLD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The main theory for years has been that Sears Holdings ( NASDAQ: SHLD     ) would eventually take the vast real estate holdings and turn the company into a profitable real estate investment trust to match the likes of General Growth Properties ( NYSE: GGP     ) or Simon Property Group  ( NYSE: SPG     ) . The shorts always focus on the weak retail operations and the longs forecast what the real estate would be worth under new tenants. Most investors might be surprised to find that Sears is further along than they think on the path to redeveloping prime mall lots. The company has new concepts that involve greatly reducing the footprint of the existing Sears or Kmart stores while attracting new tenants that General Growth and Simon can't accommodate with prime malls nearly 100% leased. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long SHLD. Please review the disclaimer page for more detail.

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. 

As investors ponder whether Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) is overvalued at $70, the big picture needs to be considered. The company has a market value of nearly $2.5 billion and revenue that won’t even cross $200 million this year. While it might be difficult to envision it being worth $10 billion at this point, the company appears to have all the makings of a future that big. The company more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As a leader in the real estate online market place, investors might be shocked that Zillow (NASDAQ: Z ) is only worth $1.8 billion. The website has long been a go-to place to review houses for sale and home values, yet the level of revenue and market value might surprise investors. In fact, this investor regularly used the website back before the financial crisis in an era before Facebook and 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. 

Today, Sears Holdings (SHLD) announced a deal to lease 43,000 sq/ft in their store at the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif to Forever 21. No terms were released on the deal, but anybody following SHLD knows that their biggest underutilized asset is their real estate. In so many cases, they'd be better off by leasing stores instead of operating them as a Sears or KMart. Having a difficult time finding any solid details on the volume of leasing deals they've done. This appears significant in terms of finally moving forward on redeploying the valuable real estate in a more profitable manner though I haven't been able to locate any concrete data. "This agreement is a great example of Sears Holdings selectively redeploying its asset base to improve the retail experience for consumers while working to create long-term shareholder value," said Jeff Stollenwerck , president, Real Estate for Sears Holdings.

Now this did occur before the Oct melt down in the financial markets, but it's a very encouraging that the price drops have finally led to more buyers. According to this LA Times story the median price is down 33% from the peak last year. Sales were also up from August and the hardest hit county of Riverside saw the biggest sales increase of 106%. Doesn't appear that there is a lack of qualified buyers when the price hits an attractive level. Thats an estimated $6B worth of new mortgages and roughly $9B as the original value that just left the books of weak mortgage holders and ended up in the hands of strong, financially solid holders. The median Southern California home sales price was $308,500 in September, the lowest since May 2003 and down 33% from the September 2007 peak of $462,000 The number of homes sold in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and San Diego counties shot up 65% compared with September 2007. A total of 20,497 homes closed escrow i...