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Meritage Homes (MTH) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

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The latest trading session saw Meritage Homes (MTH - Free Report) ending at $157.66, denoting a +1.49% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.52% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.12%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.9%.

Shares of the homebuilder witnessed a loss of 6.2% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Construction sector with its gain of 9.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.85%.

The upcoming earnings release of Meritage Homes will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $3.55, reflecting a 0.28% increase from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $1.28 billion, indicating a 0.2% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $17.72 per share and revenue of $6.09 billion, which would represent changes of -11.09% and -0.31%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Meritage Homes. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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 varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 9.24% lower. Meritage Homes is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

From a valuation perspective, Meritage Homes is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.77. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 9.05.

The Building Products - Home Builders industry is part of the Construction sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 27, this industry ranks in the top 11% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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