Rocket confident of ‘ability to outperform’ in down market 

Rocket Companies has downgraded its expectations for the spring homebuying season, but it's bullish about its bottom line — due in part to AI-powered efficiency gains.

The company reported revenue of $2.94 billion in the first quarter, which was on the high end of its guidance. Rocket noted that lending was off to a good start early in the year, particularly when 30-year mortgage rates dipped below 6% in February.

The war in Iran — which led to rising mortgage rates and economic uncertainty — has put a damper on the real estate market, but Rocket remains optimistic. "Our guidance reflects this reality and reflects our ability to outperform within it," Brian Brown, Rocket's president and CFO, told investors on May 7.

During the first quarter, home equity loans and jumbo loans more than doubled year-over-year, and Brown noted that the company is seeing record-high levels of pre-approved purchase customers, "proving that there are clients in the market that want to buy homes."

"They just need a little bit of cooperation from rates," he added.

What Rocket had to say

On the ROI of AI: During an earnings call, Rocket CEO Varun Krishna told investors that the company is seeing the benefits of its $500 million investment in AI automation and infrastructure. For one, he said, it has enabled the company to fully integrate Mr. Cooper — the loan servicing giant Rocket acquired in March 2025 — a year ahead of schedule. It has also helped Rocket outperform the rest of the market, according to Krishna.

"When people ask what AI changes for Rocket, the answer is clear: It helps us scale what we already do," Krishna said. "We are not waiting for a perfect rate environment. We are not waiting for the market to normalize, we are building a company that can win in the market we have and take even more ground when the market improves."

On the Redfin-Compass deal: Krishna also addressed the recent Compass partnership — a deal allowing Compass to display its Coming Soon listings on Redfin — using hockey terms to suggest it's going well: the strategy is about "skating to where the puck is going," he said.

"It is early days, but just a couple of months in we're very pleased with the signals and productivity of the teams," Krishna said, disclosing to investors that the partnership has already generated nearly 10,000 exclusive listings on Redfin while sending just shy of 30,000 leads into the Compass ecosystem.

Key numbers

Total net revenue: $2.94 billion for Q1, up from $1.1 billion a year prior and up from $2.69 billion in the fourth quarter. Adjusted revenue came in at the high end of Rocket's guidance range.

Cash and cash equivalents: Rocket closed out the first quarter with $2.7 billion in available cash, nearly the same as the end of 2025. 

Net income: GAAP net income was $297 million, a sizable improvement over the GAAP net loss of $212 million a year ago, and up from $68 million in Q4 2025. Adjusted net income was $422 million in Q1, well above the $80 million reported a year earlier.

Adjusted EBITDA: $738 million for Q1, a more than 4x increase from the $169 million reported a year ago. In the fourth quarter of 2025, adjusted EBITDA was $592 million.

Q2 Outlook: Rocket expects revenue to be in the $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion range, the company said.

Redfin traffic: Monthly active users rose 3.3% year-over-year in March, according to the earnings report. 

March was also a record month for digital purchase mortgage leads, which grew more than three times since Rocket closed on its acquisition of the brokerage in July 2025.

Notable moves

A few weeks after the Redfin-Compass partnership was announced, Krishna and Compass International Holdings CEO Robert Reffkin published an open letter promoting seller choice and criticizing MLSs that restrict pre-marketing of listings — suggesting that the Rocket CEO is now aligned with a message frequently espoused by Reffkin.

In personnel moves, Krishna announced on LinkedIn earlier this week that his former colleague Ben Schwartz was joining Rocket as general counsel. In January, the company saw the exit of Rocket Pro EVP of Strategy Mike Fawaz, who had been with Rocket for nearly 15 years. Also that month, Glenn Kelman, who served as Redfin CEO for 20 years, left the company.