Meritage Homes (MTH) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Meritage Homes (MTH) closed the most recent trading day at $141.15, moving +1.52% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.18%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.33%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.02%.
Heading into today, shares of the homebuilder had lost 3.83% over the past month, lagging the Construction sector's loss of 1.83% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.63% in that time.
Meritage Homes will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Meritage Homes is projected to report earnings of $5.11 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 28.03%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.55 billion, down 1.64% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $19.45 per share and revenue of $6.07 billion. These totals would mark changes of -27.26% and -3.17%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Meritage Homes. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% higher. Meritage Homes is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Investors should also note Meritage Homes's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 7.13. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.03.
The Building Products - Home Builders industry is part of the Construction sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 4, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Meritage Homes Corporation (MTH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
