Move to Acquire Relocation.com (MOVE)

Move, Inc. (MOVE) recently announced that it is set to acquire Relocation.com for $11.5 million in cash.

Of the total purchase price, $9.5 million will be paid on the closing of the deal while the remainder will be paid in the coming two years.

The acquisition will be accretive to the top line and EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2012 and start contributing to the bottom line by 2013.

Relocation.com is an online marketplace that assist people in relocation places, primarily connecting home buyers and people taking houses on rent with moving and storage professionals.

The combination of Move's existing Moving.com business and Reloaction.com will significantly strengthen Move’s position as a dominant player in moving services.

The recent acquisition is another step forward toward Move’s strategic goal of creating a one-stop destination for comprehensive and accurate real estate listings as well as providing adjacent services like moving and storage that enhances the real estate process for consumers.

In addition, the acquisition will broaden Move's focus on the residential rental market, which in the U.S. is expected to add five to six million households in the next decade.

Meanwhile, Move remains focused on creating a comprehensive online marketplace for real estate related information and services. Relocation.com works with pre-screened and licensed moving, auto transport and storage companies across the country to ease the relocation process. The combined services of Relocation.com and Moving.com will provide users with a wide array of services and expand Move’s market considerably.

Last month, the company increased its guidance on the back of TigerLead Solutions, LLC acquisition for $22 million.

TigerLead Solutions provides a comprehensive online solution for generating and managing homebuyer and home seller leads. Management expects the acquisition of TigerLead to broaden Move’s lead generation product tool and empower Move to deliver a complete suite of end-to-end solutions. These solutions will help real estate professionals connect with consumers and grow their businesses.

TigerLead has added to the already impressive product portfolio of Move, which already include REALTOR.com, ListHub, and Top Producer CRM. TigerLead will complement the leads generated by REALTOR.com.

Management believes that a positive sign for its business and the industry as a whole is that even while the number of homes for sale has declined over the past several years, consumer engagement continues to increase.

We continue to maintain an Outperform recommendation on Move. Our recommendation is supported by a Zacks #2 Rank, which translates into a short-term rating of Buy.