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KB Home Launces Smart Home Technology, Partners With Google

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In order to make everyday life simpler, personalized and entertaining for the homeowners, KB Home (KBH - Free Report) , one of the largest homebuilders in the United States, debuts the launch of its KB Smart Home System that features integrated Google Assistant.

First-Mover Advantage

The company partnered with Alphabet’s (GOOGL - Free Report) Google to offer Smart Home System at select KB Home communities in Denver, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Jacksonville, FL; Orange County, Florida; and California initially. This Los Angeles, CA-headquartered homebuilder is the foremost one in the homebuilding industry to form such a unique partnership with Google.

This move underscores the company’s focus on customer’s digital needs and suitability. KB Home’s growth potential lies in its customer-centric approach, which gives the company a competitive edge over its peers. It leverages on advanced technologies to provide the customers with ease, connectivity and customization. Undue benefits of automation will drive customers toward KB Home’s Smart Home System, thereby helping the company to boost its revenues.

This move along with other initiatives will further help the company boost its business operations. KB Home currently follows Built-to-Order process, providing buyers a wide range of choices along with a personalized customer experience. The company also follows its core KB2020 business strategy, which aims at boosting scale in its existing geographic footprint, improve profitability per unit, generate higher operating margin and drive earnings while generating positive cash flow to redeploy for growth and debt reduction.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2018, the company’s total revenues of $1,101 million surpassed the consensus mark of $1,052 million. The top line improved nearly 10% year over year, driven by higher housing revenues. In fact, homebuilding revenues increased 9.9% from the prior-year quarter to $1,098.7 million, driven by an increase in the number of homes delivered and average selling price. Moreover, number of homes delivered improved 5% from the year-ago level to 2,717 units, while average selling price went up 4% to $401,800.  

Share Price Performance

The share price of KB Home have gained 17.2% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s collective growth of 3.5%.


KB Home’s Returns-Focused Growth Plan, Built-to-Order approach along with its implementation of KB Smart Home System will drive its future performance.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

KB Home currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Construction sector are PulteGroup, Inc (PHM - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank#1 (Strong Buy), and D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI - Free Report) with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

PulteGroup has an expected current-year earnings growth rate of 61.2%.

D.R. Horton has an expected current-year earnings growth rate of 41.2%.

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