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Meritage Homes' (MTH) Q1 Orders Strong, March Orders Decline
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In a regulatory filing, Meritage Homes Corporation (MTH - Free Report) recently revealed that the company started 2020 on a solid note. However, the company witnessed a sharp drop in home orders in March on a year-over-year basis, owing to spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways
The company’s orders increased 23% year over year in first-quarter 2020. Order cancellation rates were flat year over year at 13% in the first quarter. Home closings/deliveries were up 31% to 2,316 units from 1,765 a year ago.
The company ended first quarter with a backlog of 3,568 units, reflecting an increase of 12% from 3,198 units a year ago.
Cash and investments plus available borrowing capacity under the company’s existing credit facility were $1 billion as of Mar 31, 2020.
However, due to weakening business conditions in the latter half of March stemming from the coronavirus pandemic across the United States, order cancellation rate in the month increased to 16% from 12% in the comparable year-ago period. Notably, net orders declined 8% year over year in March on account of the impact of coronavirus, which started slowing down business activity during the month. There is uncertainty about how long the adverse conditions will persist and the impact on future results.
The company has been monitoring the COVID-19 crisis situation closely and taking steps to continue selling, building and delivering homes by leveraging the existing digital platform and tools. It is also finding creative ways to interact with customers and other stakeholders.
Steven J. Hilton, chairman and CEO of Meritage Homes, pointed out, “We are seeing customers by appointment only, so traffic levels declined but our conversion rates increased in the first quarter. Buyers are utilizing our virtual homebuying tools to find, tour, finance and purchase a home without the need for in-person meetings.”
Shares of Meritage Homes, which is slated to report first-quarter results on Apr 28, have outperformed the industry in the past year. The company’s successful execution of strategic initiatives to boost profitability and focus on entry-level LiVE.NOW homes bode well. Furthermore, Meritage Homes’ strategy of targeting entry-level buyers is gaining traction and will likely boost its performance in the long haul.
However, coronavirus outbreak, higher land/labor costs and lower average selling price may dent margins of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company. Earnings estimates for 2020 have witnessed a downward revision over the past 30 days, depicting concerns surrounding its prospects. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Discouragingly, coronavirus continues to rattle the stock market, wiping out considerable equity for households. Coronavirus woes, and imminent recession and layoffs resulting from the same are anticipated to dent the housing market — which includes notable names like Lennar (LEN - Free Report) , D.R. Horton (DHI - Free Report) and PulteGroup (PHM - Free Report) — in the near term.
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Meritage Homes' (MTH) Q1 Orders Strong, March Orders Decline
In a regulatory filing, Meritage Homes Corporation (MTH - Free Report) recently revealed that the company started 2020 on a solid note. However, the company witnessed a sharp drop in home orders in March on a year-over-year basis, owing to spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways
The company’s orders increased 23% year over year in first-quarter 2020. Order cancellation rates were flat year over year at 13% in the first quarter. Home closings/deliveries were up 31% to 2,316 units from 1,765 a year ago.
The company ended first quarter with a backlog of 3,568 units, reflecting an increase of 12% from 3,198 units a year ago.
Cash and investments plus available borrowing capacity under the company’s existing credit facility were $1 billion as of Mar 31, 2020.
However, due to weakening business conditions in the latter half of March stemming from the coronavirus pandemic across the United States, order cancellation rate in the month increased to 16% from 12% in the comparable year-ago period. Notably, net orders declined 8% year over year in March on account of the impact of coronavirus, which started slowing down business activity during the month. There is uncertainty about how long the adverse conditions will persist and the impact on future results.
The company has been monitoring the COVID-19 crisis situation closely and taking steps to continue selling, building and delivering homes by leveraging the existing digital platform and tools. It is also finding creative ways to interact with customers and other stakeholders.
Steven J. Hilton, chairman and CEO of Meritage Homes, pointed out, “We are seeing customers by appointment only, so traffic levels declined but our conversion rates increased in the first quarter. Buyers are utilizing our virtual homebuying tools to find, tour, finance and purchase a home without the need for in-person meetings.”
Shares of Meritage Homes, which is slated to report first-quarter results on Apr 28, have outperformed the industry in the past year. The company’s successful execution of strategic initiatives to boost profitability and focus on entry-level LiVE.NOW homes bode well. Furthermore, Meritage Homes’ strategy of targeting entry-level buyers is gaining traction and will likely boost its performance in the long haul.
However, coronavirus outbreak, higher land/labor costs and lower average selling price may dent margins of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company. Earnings estimates for 2020 have witnessed a downward revision over the past 30 days, depicting concerns surrounding its prospects. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Discouragingly, coronavirus continues to rattle the stock market, wiping out considerable equity for households. Coronavirus woes, and imminent recession and layoffs resulting from the same are anticipated to dent the housing market — which includes notable names like Lennar (LEN - Free Report) , D.R. Horton (DHI - Free Report) and PulteGroup (PHM - Free Report) — in the near term.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year.
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