Why Meritage Homes (MTH) Dipped More Than Broader Market Today

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The most recent trading session ended with Meritage Homes (MTH) standing at $110.55, reflecting a -1.81% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.85%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.75%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.96%.

Coming into today, shares of the homebuilder had lost 11.09% in the past month. In that same time, the Construction sector lost 6.14%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.02%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Meritage Homes in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on October 31, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Meritage Homes to post earnings of $5.10 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 28.17%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.55 billion, down 1.76% from the year-ago period.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $19.37 per share and revenue of $6.06 billion, indicating changes of -27.56% and -3.29%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Meritage Homes. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.42% lower. Meritage Homes is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Meritage Homes is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 5.81. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.21.

The Building Products - Home Builders industry is part of the Construction sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 78, finds itself in the top 31% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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