Last week, Rightmove (LSE:RMV) shares increased by 9.4%, so I took a closer look at whether this might be one of the top stocks for investors to consider buying.
If someone had put in £10,000 at the start of the week, they would have made an unrealised profit of £939. Not bad for seven days’ worth of investing.
But the property portal giant’s stock has endured a difficult past year, falling by 42.1%. An investor would have lost almost half their money if they had bought the stock this time last year.
However, is the recent shift in momentum a sign to think about buying?
Why did the shares rise?
Looking at the company’s price chart for last week, its shares were flat for pretty much the whole week. From Monday until 2.30 pm on Friday, they were down about 0.6%. But after 2.30, they jumped by about 10%. Was there news related to the company that made this happen?
Looking through the internet, there wasn’t anything that stuck out. The closest to an explanation I could find was that non-executive director Amanda James bought 6,016 shares the day before. I don’t think this is an adequate enough reason to explain such a share price increase.
Therefore, it looks like the movement was due to the general volatility the company’s stock has been experiencing.
The sentiment…
Overall, there are mixed sentiments about Rightmove’s prospects. Most of the negative outlook from the company comes due to artificial intelligence (AI).
Back in November, it announced that it would invest £60m over the next three years, with a large part of that focused on adopting AI into its business model.
This spooked investors as it could hit margins. Furthermore, there’s a fear that AI-powered search tools could threaten the company’s property portal completely.
The share price has been dwindling since.
Has this been overdone?
Personally, I don’t think the company’s share price decline has been justified. In its latest trading update released earlier this month (8 May), it reaffirmed its guidance of revenue growth between 8% and 10% for 2026.
Furthermore, the firm expects operating profit growth of 3-5% for the year, and earnings per share of at least 5%.
And while AI is a potential threat to the business, investors shouldn’t forget that Rightmove already has huge brand recognition in the UK, along with one of the largest property databases.
Maybe it’s a good sign that the firm is willing to adapt to AI early on to benefit strongly in the long run, rather than letting the technology eat its business.
With a forward price-to-earnings ratio of only 13.2, the company’s shares aren’t exactly expensive either. And given its strong growth, they actually look quite cheap. Therefore, I think investors should consider buying Rightmove shares.
Should you invest £5,000 in Rightmove Plc right now?
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Muhammad Cheema does not hold any positions in the companies mentioned.
