Meritage Homes Updates 2015 Guidance in Advance of Investor Conference
September 09 2015 - 5:25PM
Business Wire
In advance of an investor conference this week where Meritage
(NYSE: MTH) management will be speaking with investors, the company
updated its projected EPS for 2015 and provided guidance for the
third quarter.
Management revised its full-year guidance for earnings per
diluted share to $3.30-3.75, including estimated earnings per
diluted share of $0.70-0.85 for the third quarter. The company had
previously projected 2015 earnings of $3.60-3.90 per diluted share.
By comparison, Meritage earned $0.79 per diluted share in the third
quarter of 2014 and $3.46 per diluted share for the full year
2014.
The estimate revisions are due to a combination of factors
including delays in home closings that are expected to reduce
revenue, increased labor costs impacting home closing margins, and
slower than anticipated realization of benefits from the company’s
newer divisions in the Southeast.
“There are shortages of skilled labor in many markets as
subcontractors struggle to catch up with the increased demand of a
continued recovery in homebuilding,” said Steven J. Hilton,
chairman and chief executive officer of Meritage Homes.
“Competition for labor has resulted in increased costs and longer
construction times, intensified by the impact of severe spring
weather in certain Texas and Colorado markets. While we have taken
steps to deal with the labor pressures on our short-term results,
we are encouraged that they illustrate a recovering homebuilding
market.”
Mr. Hilton further added, “The expected contributions from some
of our newer markets in the Southeast have not materialized as
quickly as we previously projected and we have made operational
changes to improve their performance. We remain optimistic about
the longer term potential of those newer markets.”
About Meritage Homes Corporation
Meritage Homes is the eighth-largest public homebuilder in the
United States, based on homes closed in 2014. Meritage builds and
sells single-family homes for first-time, move-up, luxury and
active adult buyers across the Western, Southern and Southeastern
United States. Meritage builds in markets including Sacramento, San
Francisco's East Bay, Southern California coastal and Inland Empire
markets; Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin and San Antonio, Texas;
Phoenix/Scottsdale, Green Valley and Tucson, Arizona; Denver and
Fort Collins, Colorado; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Raleigh and
Charlotte, North Carolina; Greenville-Spartanburg and York County,
South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia.
Meritage has designed and built more than 85,000 homes in its
30-year history, and has a reputation for its distinctive style,
quality construction, and positive customer experience. Meritage is
the industry leader in energy-efficient homebuilding and has
received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR
Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence Award in 2013, 2014
and 2015, for innovation and industry leadership in energy
efficient homebuilding. Meritage was the first national homebuilder
to be 100 percent ENERGY STAR qualified in every home it builds,
and far exceeds ENERGY STAR standards today.
For more information, visit investors.meritagehomes.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Such statements include management's expectations with
respect to earnings per diluted share for both the third quarter
and full year 2015.
Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of Company management, and current market conditions,
which are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual
results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements. The Company makes no commitment, and disclaims any
duty, to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect
future events or changes in these expectations. Meritage's business
is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result of
those risks and uncertainties, the Company's stock and note prices
may fluctuate dramatically. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, the following: the availability of finished
lots and undeveloped land; interest rates and changes in the
availability and pricing of residential mortgages; fluctuations in
the availability and cost of labor; changes in or our failure to
comply with tax laws that adversely impact our homebuyers; the
ability of our potential buyers to sell their existing homes;
cancellation rates and home prices in our markets; weakness in the
homebuilding market resulting from an unexpected setback in the
current economic recovery due to lower oil prices or other factors;
inflation in the cost of materials used to develop communities and
construct homes; the adverse effect of slower order absorption
rates; potential write-downs or write-offs of assets; a change to
the feasibility of projects under option or contract that could
result in the write-down or write-off of option deposits; our
ability to successfully integrate acquired companies and achieve
anticipated benefits from these acquisitions; our potential
exposure to natural disasters; competition; construction defect and
home warranty claims; adverse legal rulings; our success in
prevailing on contested tax positions; our ability to obtain
performance bonds in connection with our development work; the loss
of key personnel; changes in, or our failure to comply with, laws
and regulations; limitations of our geographic diversification;
fluctuations in quarterly operating results; our financial leverage
and level of indebtedness and our ability to take certain actions
because of restrictions contained in the indentures for our senior
notes and our ability to raise additional capital when and if
needed; our credit ratings; successful integration of future
acquisitions; our compliance with government regulations and the
effect of legislative or other initiatives that seek to restrain
growth of new housing construction or similar measures; acts of
war; the replication of our "Green" technologies by our
competitors; our exposure to information technology failures and
security breaches; and other factors identified in documents filed
by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including those set forth in our Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2014 and subsequent quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q
under the caption "Risk Factors," which can be found on our
website.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150909006733/en/
Meritage Homes CorporationBrent Anderson, 972-580-6360VP
Investor RelationsBrent.Anderson@meritagehomes.com
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