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

Meritage Homes Rides the Wave of Entry-Level Homes

Meritage Homes (MTH) has yet to make additional progress after a large post-earnings gap up.

Overall Assessment I am bullish on Meritage Homes (MTH). Both the fundamentals and the technicals on the company and stock look good even following the strong performance this year and following the last earnings report. I am very late on digging into Meritage’s latest story despite pointing out the stock’s strength several times over the … Read more

Home Builder Breakouts: KB Home and Catch-Up Time for Lennar

The grind played out for about 5 months – including a sell-off in June ahead of earnings. Now, KB Home (KBH) finally managed to break out to a new high for the year. KB Home (KBH) finally joined the growing list of home builders breaking to prices last seen last year and earlier. KBH is … Read more

Meritage Homes Belatedly Pivots Toward Entry-Level Home Buyers

I had high hopes for Meritage Homes (MTH) before and after the company reported earnings last month. Home builders were leading the market into a big sell-off, and I expected MTH to set the record straight on the health of the housing market. The headline earnings were solid but not quite inspiring enough. The stock … Read more

Meritage Homes: Margin Pressures Cap An Already Low Valuation

Three months ago, I reviewed earnings guidance from Meritage Homes (MTH) for second quarter 2016. The guidance and subsequent positive market reaction came within weeks of a first quarter earnings report that was very poorly received (13% loss on the day). I called the guidance “too late” because of the sour taste left by the … Read more

Meritage Homes Offers Strong Guidance “Too Late”

At the 9th Annual J.P. Morgan Homebuilding & Building Products Conference on May 17, 2016, Meritage Homes (MTH) released good news on guidance for the second quarter and fiscal year 2016 (link updated 8/23). MTH expects notable year-over-year gains for FY2016 across all its top metrics except home closing gross margins: Home orders: +4-6% Home … Read more

Meritage Homes Prepares for First-Time Homebuyers, Hopeful On Arizona

When Meritage Homes (MTH) lowered guidance on September 9, 2015, the nation’s seventh largest homebuilder blamed several factors: A delay in closing homes. This was the most concerning explanation because the company provided no further details on it. Increased labor costs. These costs impacted margins. The problem was particularly acute in MTH’s major markets of … Read more

T2108 Update (August 7, 2015) – S&P 500 Support Keeps Taking A Beating; Homebuilders In Focus

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more

Meritage Homes Takes The Edge Off Bullish Expectations With A “Wait And See” Attitude

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 10, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) After writing about the bullish earnings report from D.R. Horton (DHI), I have looked for further confirmation from other major public homebuilders. Meritage Homes (MTH) remains on my list of favorites … Read more

Meritage Supersizes Its Warchest On the Heels of Another Outstanding Quarter

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 12, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) Meritage Homes (MTH) rolled out a series of announcements last week culminating in the pricing of 2.2M shares in a common stock offering at $45.75/share. With net proceeds of $95.9M, this … Read more