Seek shares slip despite improving job ad data, market share gains
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The news: Shares in jobs platform Seek tumbled on Monday, even after Bell Potter reiterated its 'buy' recommendation and lifted its target price on the company.
The numbers: Seek shares were down 1.9% to $23.53 at 1pm AEST. Bell Potter lifted its price target from $25.80 to $28.40.
The context: Bell Potter analyst Michael Ardrey said Seek's ad index data for May outlined further improvement and market share gains against the Australian Bureau of Statistics' internet job ad index.
May's decline of 5.6% year over year was the narrowest monthly fall since December 2022, Ardrey noted, and outperformed the ABS internet job vacancy index by 220 basis points, or 7.8% year on year, for the month.
Ardrey also commented that Seek's largest marketplace, Australia, could see ad volumes increase from macro tailwinds driven by an RBA cutting cycle, and also extract group yield and margin improvements through its unified platform.
However, the analyst expects share price volatility near-term from sensitivity to economic indicators impacting outlook for jobs growth and ad volumes on the platform.
The source: Bell Potter research
