Taylor Morrison Makes A Poorly Timed Acquisition of William Lyon

The Timing and the Stock Charts During the analyst conference call explaining the deal to buy William Lyon Homes (WLH), CEO Sheryl Palmer revealed that Taylor Morrison Home Company (TMHC) began buy-out talks several months ago. That was a time of rising optimism for home builders. The announcement of the deal came shortly after investors … Read more

Housing Market Review (October, 2019) – Home Builders Wavering At the Edge of the Moment of Truth

Housing Market Intro/Summary The stocks of home builders are starting to fail their moment of truth. A Moment of Truth Looming Ever Larger On October 25th, the iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB) hit a 21-month high that coincided exactly with a major multi-year peak and post-recession high from January, 2018. The sellers showed … Read more

Forex Critical: Another Key Test for the Turkish Lira

The U.S. dollar versus the Turkish lira (USD/TRY) is testing 200DMA support after drifting through 50DMA support.

In late August, I wrote about a bad turn for the Turkish lira. Over two months later, the lira is around the same price levels in USD/TRY and EUR/TRY – two key pairs for the lira – but the path to this point has featured plenty of volatility. From a technical perspective, USD/TRY is testing … Read more

A Moment of Truth for Stocks of Homebuilders

The iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB) has backed off from 21-month highs.

This is a moment of truth for the stocks of homebuilders. The iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB) last week hit a 21-month high that exactly coincided with a climactic high in January, 2018. The subsequent selling this week seemed to unfold like clockwork. The selling was particularly notable given the S&P 500 (SPY) … Read more

Pulte Homes Earnings Q3 2019: Mostly Solid But Not (Yet) Actionable

Pulte Homes (PHM) rallied nearly straight up for almost three months. A post-earnings acceleration ended as quickly as it started.

Overall Assessment I am neutral on Pulte Homes (PHM). The company’s Q3 2019 earnings report was good but not spectacular. I am warily eyeing year-over-year net income and earnings per share declines even as the company experiences robust demand and buys back shares. Most importantly, with a 2.0 price/book ratio, PHM is relatively expensive compared … Read more