The Seek Ltd (ASX: SEK) share price is trading in the green at lunchtime today. At the time of writing, shares are up 0.51% to $27.43 a piece.
The online employment marketplace has experienced a surge of growth over the past month, with the share price climbing 15.5% in August and 19.62% over the year.
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What pushed up the share price?
Seek shares were boosted by the company's robust FY25 financial results on 19 August. The business posted a 1% increase in net revenue, but EBITDA slipped 2%.
Seek's full-year dividend jumped 31% higher to 46 cents per share, fully franked.
Going forward, the company said it expects FY26 revenue of $1.15 billion to $1.25 billion, with adjusted profit guidance of $190 million to $220 million.
Clearly, investors were pleased with the results because by the end of the day, Seek shares had risen 8%, and the share price continued rising another 3.4% over the following 48 hours.
And it doesn't look like the rally is over yet. Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) sees even more upside ahead over the next 12 months.
Seek shares could storm even higher
In a recent investor note, the broker confirmed its outperform rating on the stock and hiked its target price to $32.50 a piece, up from $27 previously.
At the time of writing, that represents a robust potential upside of 18.5% for investors over the next 12 months.
The broker noted that the Seek employment report for July 2025 indicated that Australian job ad volumes were flat sequentially or down 5% year on year, but volume declines moderated since June 2023.
Employment volumes are down 6% year on year, or 7% on a rolling 3-month and 6-month basis.
Macquarie also noted that applications per ad in June were 210, which has been flat since March 2025, albeit at record levels. Applications are 78% above the 10-year average.
"For Seek, actual volume growth tends to correlate with growth within this report, but with some adjustments, mostly around the weighting of Australian and New Zealand volumes (MQe = 90% / 10% skew). The report has also moved from seasonally adjusted to trend series data, which smooths month-to-month volatility," the broker said in its note.
Going forward, Macquarie said it expects ANZ job ad volumes to continue stabilising. Based on current trends, the broker expects it should return to growth in H2 FY26.
"Our forecast for flat FY26 volumes is in line with Seek's guidance, but we see upside to estimates given 1) soft FY25 comparables, 2) rate cuts (report link), 3) a tight labour market, and 4) higher demand for new products.
"Seek remains our top classifieds pick with a view that FY26E ANZ guidance is conservative across both volume and yields, and there is high drop-through to earnings, with platform unification."
