Z Zillow Group Inc

Zillow Group Inc. further lifted its revenue forecast for the year after the company reported record traffic growth, though its loss widened from a year earlier as it racked up legal expenses.

Shares, up 67% this year through Thursday's close, declined 5% in after-hours trading.

The Seattle-based company, which runs online real-estate portals used by house hunters and real-estate agents, bought former rival Trulia last year. The company acquired New York City apartment-search site Naked Apartments for $13 million, and, in its latest move to expand its reach, said this week it would buy listing service Bridge Interactive Group.

Zillow said it averaged 168 million unique visitors during the second quarter, up 20% from a year earlier. The company said its market share grew to two-thirds of the mobile and web real-estate market. Real-estate revenue surged 41% to $173.2 million

Meanwhile, display revenue dropped 35% as Zillow continues to de-emphasize display advertising. Zillow traditionally has brought in a big chunk of its money from advertising purchased by Realtors. It said the decline would continue in the current quarter.

Total revenue climbed 22% to $208.4 million, higher than the $204.6 million analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted.

But hefty legal expenses offset the sales gain. Zillow reported a $130 million litigation settlement and $12.5 million in related costs, pushing its net loss for the quarter to $156.1 million, or 87 cents a share. A year earlier, the company reported a loss of $26.7 million, or 15 cents a share.

For the year, Zillow now expects to report $830 million to $840 million in revenue, up from an earlier view of $825 million to $835 million. Analysts have been looking for $827.6 million.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 04, 2016 18:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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