E-House China shares rise on strong revenue outlook

E-House results suggest that the bottom of the market has passed. And that this is probably not, as American journalists splendidly put it, ‘a dead cat bounce.’

Chinese real estate services company E-House China posted a quarterly profit that beat market estimates, helped by a recovery in real estate transaction volumes, and forecast a strong second-quarter revenue, sending its shares up 13%.

For the second quarter, E-House expects revenue to be between $49 million and $51 million, well above analysts’ average estimate of $38.3 million.

Lazard Capital Market analyst Colin Sebastian said, ‘The outlook not only reflects the rebound in the Chinese market, but also the fact that E-House’s partners, the developers, are specifically doing well.

‘I think there’s a lot of pent-up demand from the consumer’s side and they have a lot of supply of housing coming on to the market. So, the combination of these trends is playing in their favour right now.’

E-House, which was the first Chinese real estate services company to make its debut on U.S. exchanges, went public in August 2007.

Reuters reported analysts on average had expected earnings of 5 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $32.2 million. The illustration is part of an amazing panoramic shot on the E-House site.