Meritage Homes Earnings Preview

Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH  ) came in under analyst's estimates last quarter, but now have a chance to fix things this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, July 29. Meritage Homes is a designer and builder of single-family attached and detached homes in the historically high-growth regions of the southern and western United States, based on the number of home closings.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts are bullish on Meritage Homes as four analysts rate it as a buy and only one analyst rates it as a sell. Analysts like Meritage Homes better than competitor KB Home overall. While analysts still rate the stock a Hold, they are a little more optimistic about it compared to three months ago.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $204.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 29.9% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is a loss of $0.04 per share. Estimates range from a loss of $0.15 to a profit of $0.01.

What our community says:
The majority of CAPS All-Stars see MTH as a good bet, with 62% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The majority of the Fools are in agreement with the All-Stars as 65.3% give it an "outperform" rating. Fools are bullish on Meritage Homes and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 600 posts in the past 30 days. Meritage Homes' bearish CAPS rating of one out of five stars falls short of the Fool community sentiment.

Management:
Revenue has fallen in the past two quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

For all our Meritage Homes-specific analysis, including earnings and beyond, add Meritage Homes to My Watchlist.

Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Meritage Homes. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.