PHM

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. - Home Sale Revenue (Q3): $3.9 billion, down 9% YoY from $4.2 billion. - Home Sale Revenue (9M): $11 billion. - Net Income (Q3): $476 million, or $2.53 per diluted share (vs. $586 million / $2.96 prior year). - Pre-Tax Income (Q3): $625 million; tax expense $149 million (23.9% effective rate). - Gross Margin (Q3): 24.8%, down 140 bps YoY and 20 bps sequentially; includes 10.4% incentives and $26 million (70 bps) land impairments. - Gross Margin (9M): 24.7%; full-year guide 24.5%25.0%; Q4 guide 24.0%24.5%. - Operating Margin (9M): 14.2%. - SG&A Expense (Q3): $397 million, or 10.3% of home sale revenues (vs. $401 million / 9.4% prior year); full-year guide 10.3%10.5%. - Net New Orders (Q3): 6,208 homes, down 6% YoY; absorption pace 1.9 homes/month (vs. 2.2); cancellation rate 10% (vs. 12%). - Orders by Buyer Group: First-time down 9%, move-up down 14%, active adult up 11% YoY. - Closings (Q3): 6,876 homes, down 9% YoY; mix 38% first-time, 38% move-up, 24% active adult. - Closings Guidance: Q4 7,0007,500 homes; full-year 27,00027,500 homes. - Average Sales Price: Guided $550,000$560,000 for Q4 and full year. - Backlog: 10,298 homes valued at $6.4 billion (vs. 9,888 homes / $6.2 billion prior year). - Community Count: Average 1,077 in Q3, up 7% YoY; Q4 growth guided 3%5%. - Traffic: Down 14% YoY and 11% sequentially. - Build Costs: $75 per square foot, down 5% YoY and flat sequentially. - Financial Services: Q3 pre-tax income $46 million (vs. $44 million); mortgage capture rate 85% (vs. 84%). - Operating Cash Flow: Full-year 2026 expected ~$1 billion. - Cash & Leverage: $1.4 billion cash; debt-to-capital 12.1%; net debt-to-capital 3%. - Land Investment: $1.3 billion in Q3 (51% development); $4 billion YTD; ~$5.3 billion expected for full-year 2026. - Lots Under Control: ~224,000 lots, down 16,000 YoY and 4,000 sequentially; 55% held under option; ~8,000 option lots walked away in Q3. - Share Repurchases: 2.8 million shares for $350 million in Q3 (avg $124.70); 8.4 million shares for $1 billion YTD (avg $123.51); diluted shares 188 million, down 5% YoY. - Shareholder Returns (9M): $1.2 billion via repurchases and dividends; nearly $400 million returned in Q3. - Warning! GuruFocus has detected 10 Warning Signs with MLLGF. - Is PHM fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: October 22, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. - PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) maintained a strong gross margin of 24.8% in Q3 2026 despite challenging market conditions. - The company increased its backlog to 10,298 homes valued at $6.4 billion, up from the prior year. - PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) returned nearly $400 million to shareholders in Q3 through share repurchases and dividends, and $1.2 billion year-to-date. - Active adult segment net new orders increased 11% year-over-year, benefiting from community count growth and the Explore by Del Webb brand rollout. - Build costs decreased 5% year-over-year to $75 per square foot, and cycle time improved to below 100 days for the first time since pre-COVID. - The company maintains a strong balance sheet with $1.4 billion in cash and a net debt-to-capital ratio of only 3%. - PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) demonstrated geographic diversity, with outperformance in Florida and the Midwest offsetting softer demand elsewhere. - Net new orders decreased 6% year-over-year to 6,208 homes, driven by a 13% decline in absorption pace. - Customer traffic to communities dropped 14% year-over-year and 11% sequentially, with first-time buyers most impacted by higher interest rates. - Q3 home sale revenues fell 9% to $3.9 billion, and closings decreased 9% to 6,876 homes, missing guidance. - Gross margin declined 140 basis points year-over-year, and incentives rose to 10.4% from 8.9%. - SG&A expense as a percentage of home sale revenues increased to 10.3% from 9.4%, due to lost leverage from lower absorption. - The company recorded $26 million in land impairment charges and walked away from approximately 8,000 optioned lots that no longer met return thresholds. - Full-year closings guidance was reduced to 27,000-27,500 homes, and Q4 gross margin is expected to decline further to 24.0-24.5%. Q: With interest rates surging in Q3, how did traffic and buyer behavior differ across first-time, move-up, and active adult segments? A: CEO Ryan Marshall acknowledged that all buyer groups felt the slowdown, but first-time buyers saw an outsized impact since they are most rate-sensitive and largely dependent on 30-year mortgages. Move-up and active adult buyers fared better, partly because many pay cash. Traffic to communities fell 14% year-over-year and 11% sequentially, with most of the missing traffic coming from first-time buyers. Q: Given price inelasticity, how is PulteGroup balancing incentives, price, and volume, and what does that mean for gross margins? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said the company sees little price elasticityadditional discounts above current levels don't generate enough incremental sales to justify the margin hit. PulteGroup remains focused on inventory turn but is well above the level where it would need to lean in more aggressively. Q4 margin guidance of 24.0%24.5% already bakes in incremental discounts expected on spec inventory, while the full-year guide is maintained at 24.5%25.0%. Q: How much of the Q4 gross margin pressure is tied to clearing spec inventory, and could that headwind ease in 2027? A: CEO Ryan Marshall clarified that PulteGroup does not have a spec probleminventory is right-sized, and fewer spec closings in Q3 actually benefited margins. The Q4 guide reflects a mix of backlog, dirt sales, and spec homes sold and closed in the quarter, which typically carry lower margins and higher discounts. Looking to 2027, margins could improve if the company returns to its target mix of roughly 60% dirt sales and 40% spec, since dirt sales carry the highest margins; management expects to reach that mix by the end of 2027. Q: Why did SG&A dollars come in higher than expected in Q3, and what is driving the increased full-year SG&A guidance? A: CFO James Ossowski explained that slower absorption and lower volume reduced operating leverage. Some communities are taking longer to close out, and staffing levels remain fixed whether a community sells two or three homes per month. The updated full-year SG&A guidance of 10.3%10.5% of home sale revenues reflects these deleverage pressures rather than any single unexpected cost item. Q: How should investors think about the Q4 closings guide and the number of spec homes that still need to be sold? A: CFO James Ossowski guided Q4 closings to 7,0007,500 homes, bringing full-year closings to 27,00027,500. CEO Ryan Marshall noted that the ratio of specs still needing to be sold and closed in Q4 is comparable to Q3, which was dramatically lower than Q4 2025 and the first half of 2026, reflecting the sharp change in consumer behavior after rates moved to 7.5%. The Q4 guide incorporates the most recent spec conversion experience. Q: How did September demand trends evolve, and how is that shaping planning for 2027? A: CEO Ryan Marshall declined to provide month-by-month detail but confirmed a noticeable change in September that has continued into October. Annual planning is underway and is more difficult given the environment. The biggest focus is capital allocationbeing thoughtful about land spend and positioning the business for long-term success rather than managing for the current or next quarter. Q: What is driving the weakness in Texas and the West, and are there any signs of inventory pressure in Florida? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said Texas remains a tougher operating environment across all four major markets, with an uptick in available inventory, though Dallas and Houston have shown flashes of strength. The West has been challenged for about two and a half years, driven mainly by affordability in expensive coastal markets rather than broken local economies. In Florida, PulteGroup is not seeing inventory pressure in the segments and locations where it operates. Q: How are construction costs and cycle times trending, and what pressures lie ahead? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said cycle times fell below 100 days for the first time since pre-COVID, even including large multifamily buildings. CFO James Ossowski noted build costs were $75 per square foot, down 5% year-over-year and flat sequentially, with low single-digit year-over-year declines expected again in Q4. However, immigration enforcement is disrupting the broader labor market and creating cycle time pressure, and inflationary pressuresespecially fuelcould make further cost reductions harder. Q: How are incentive loads trending by buyer cohort, and what is the attach rate on rate buydowns for build-to-order homes? A: CFO James Ossowski said Q3 incentives of 10.4% were flat sequentially with no meaningful change in dynamics across consumer groups, split between financing incentives and discounts on spec homes. About 40% of financing incentives and forward commitments are for build-to-order homes, which carry higher margins and are being used to build backlog into Q4 and 2027. Q: With a strong balance sheet, is PulteGroup seeing more M&A opportunities in the current market? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said the balance sheet is a major advantage in a tougher environment, partly because the company has avoided chasing inappropriate opportunities. PulteGroup evaluates M&A as another form of land capital allocation, focusing on the consumer groups and markets an acquisition would bring. Management remains highly disciplined and is not interested in acquiring competitors simply to get bigger. Q: Are higher-end buyers still spending on upgrades and options once they commit to a home? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said committed buyers are better prepared, often with equity from a prior sale and stronger personal balance sheets, and their behavior is little changed from prior quarters. CFO James Ossowski noted options and lot premiums were $117,000 per lot in Q3, up year-over-year and sequentially, partly due to mix as spec sales declined. Q: How are land prices trending, and is PulteGroup walking away from option lots? A: CEO Ryan Marshall said land price trends depend heavily on the specific MSA and submarketsome locations remain highly competitive with accelerating prices, while B and C locations are seeing pricing change. The rate of land price acceleration has slowed significantly, but there is no broad discounting yet. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

PulteGroup came into this Q3 2026 report with a reputation as one of the tightest operators in U.S. homebuilding, yet the share price had struggled in recent months. Then the numbers hit, and the stock jumped 5.8% to US$119.48 in the first full session after the release. Earnings per share of about US$2.55 and net income of roughly US$476 million, backed by a US$6.4b backlog, tell a story of profits holding up even as buyer traffic softens. The gap between that cautious narrative and a rising share price is what investors now need to unpack. Love PulteGroup's solid profits and US$6.4b backlog but concerned about softer buyer traffic? Consider screening for builders and related stocks that pair resilient earnings with stronger demand momentum in our list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals stocks (26 results) - Total Revenue (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): US$3,973.8m vs. US$4,404.8m (down 9.8%) - Net Income, excl. extra items (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): US$475.7m vs. US$585.8m (down 18.8%) - Basic EPS (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): US$2.55 vs. US$2.98 (down 14.5%) - Backlog Value (Q3 2026 vs Q3 2025): US$6.4b vs. US$6.2b (up 3.2%) PulteGroup is letting orders slip rather than cut prices hard. Ask Charlie what makes PulteGroup defend margins over chasing volume. The bullish script argues that PulteGroup's product mix and build to order model can carry earnings even as the market cools. "The ongoing shift at PulteGroup toward a roughly 60% build to order mix with finished spec inventory around 1.3 to 1.4 homes per community can free up working capital and leave more room for future cash generation to show up in net income and earnings per share." Q3 execution lines up with that ambition. Finished spec units fell 16% to about 1,696 homes and gross margin held at 24.8% despite softer traffic and 10.4% incentives. Backlog value edged up to US$6.4b, and management still targets about US$1.0b of 2026 operating cash flow. This supports the mix-led cash flow story even as revenue and EPS face pressure. That disagreement has a full argument behind it. → Uncover the higher Fair Value this Narrative argues for. The cautious view argues that richer product mix will not be enough if pricing pressure and slower activity keep eroding earnings quality at PulteGroup. "This points to a risk that higher mix quality does not translate into stronger earnings and that future reported profitability could lag what current gross margin assumptions imply." Q3 results only partly undercut that worry. Gross margin stayed at 24.8% with incentives at 10.4%, which supports the idea that cost discipline and mix are still working. Yet revenue, net income and EPS all declined year over year, SG&A rose as a share of sales, and orders and traffic softened. Mix helped, but it did not fully offset slower volume and weaker operating leverage. PulteGroup just showed how margin resilience can coexist with softer revenue and traffic. The real opportunity is finding stocks that could be undervalued before the market corrects them. - Company 1 - 17% below our estimate - leans into hyperscale data center buildouts as segment backlogs swell and projects grow more complex. - Company 2 - 31% below our estimate - positions its chips and software where digital infrastructure must keep data moving, secured, and managed. - Company 3 - 50% below our estimate - reshapes its earnings mix toward fee income as it integrates acquisitions and executes partnership-driven cost and revenue synergies. That is three of the list. See the full list of 30 companies trading below our fair value estimates → This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include PHM. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

NVR, Inc. NVR reported third-quarter 2026 results, with earnings and Homebuilding revenues missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Both metrics also declined on a year-over-year basis. The quarter reflected fewer settlements, softer pricing and margin pressure amid affordability challenges and weak consumer sentiment. New orders declined and cancellations increased, but backlog units rose 10% year over year. Following the results, NVR stock jumped 3.6% during yesterday's trading hours, potentially supported by backlog growth, improved Mortgage Banking profitability and continued share repurchases despite weaker earnings. The company reported earnings of $89.45 per share, down 20.4% year over year and missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $106.11 by 15.7%. Homebuilding revenues of $2.35 billion also missed the consensus mark of $2.60 billion by 9.8%. Revenues declined 8.2% year over year from $2.56 billion, reflecting lower settlement volumes and a decrease in the average settlement price. NVR, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | NVR, Inc. Quote Consolidated revenues (Homebuilding & Mortgage Banking fees combined) amounted to $2.40 billion, down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Settlements fell 7% to 5,268 units from 5,639 units, limiting revenue generation during the quarter. The Mid Atlantic region recorded 1,786 settlements compared with 2,008 a year ago, while Mid East settlements declined to 1,090 from 1,200. South East settlements decreased to 1,915 units from 2,011, while North East settlements increased to 477 units from 420. The average settlement price declined 2% year over year to $445,900, adding to the pressure from fewer closings. Homebuilding gross margin contracted to 18.3% from 21% a year ago, reflecting a 270-basis-point decline. Profitability was pressured by higher lot costs, continued affordability challenges and weak consumer sentiment, which contributed to increased pricing pressure. Our estimate for the metric was 19.9%. The quarter also included approximately $24.8 million of contract land deposit impairments. Consequently, Homebuilding income before taxes declined 27% year over year to $299.7 million from $411.4 million. Mortgage banking fees increased to $53.1 million from $49.2 million in the prior-year quarter. However, mortgage closed loan production declined 10% year over year to $1.38 billion from $1.54 billion, reflecting lower financing activity. Despite weaker loan production, Mortgage Banking income before taxes increased 7% to $35 million from $32.7 million. The capture rate, representing the percentage of NVR homebuyers using the company's mortgage services, decreased to 85% from 86%. New orders, net of cancellations, declined 7% year over year to 4,391 units from 4,735. Mid Atlantic orders decreased to 1,641 units from 1,714, while North East orders fell to 232 from 433. Mid East orders declined to 891 units from 931, while South East orders decreased to 1,627 from 1,657. The average sales price of new orders fell 5% to $442,100 from $464,800. The cancellation rate increased to 21% from 19.4%, indicating that a greater proportion of signed contracts failed to convert into firm orders during the quarter. Backlog totaled 10,121 units as of Sept. 30, 2026, up 10% from 9,165 units a year earlier. The dollar value of backlog increased 4% to $4.59 billion, reflecting a larger volume of homes awaiting settlement. However, the average backlog price declined to $453,000 from $479,500. Average active communities increased to 454 from 450, slightly expanding the company's selling footprint despite softer order activity. Homebuilding cash and cash equivalents were $1.09 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026, compared with $1.88 billion at the end of 2025. Homebuilding inventory increased to $2.37 billion from $1.72 billion during the same period. Mortgage Banking cash and cash equivalents were $34.1 million compared with $32.6 million at year-end. NVR repurchased 37,088 shares during the quarter for an aggregate cost of $237.2 million. Shares outstanding declined to 2.64 million from 2.86 million a year earlier, helping offset part of the impact of lower net income on per-share earnings. NVR currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. PulteGroup, Inc. PHM reported third-quarter 2026 earnings of $2.53 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.63 by 3.8%. Earnings declined 14.5% from $2.96 per share in the year-ago quarter. PulteGroup's total revenues of $3.97 billion fell short of the consensus mark of $4.13 billion by 3.9% and decreased 9.8% year over year. Results reflected lower home-closing volumes, softer average selling prices and margin pressure amid affordability challenges, rising mortgage rates and inflation. Net new orders declined year over year, while backlog increased in both units and dollar value. Lennar Corporation LEN reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter fiscal 2026 (ended Aug. 31) results. Adjusted earnings of $1.23 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.29 by 4.7% and fell 38.5% from $2.00 a year ago. Lennar's total revenues of $8.05 billion missed the consensus estimate of $8.33 billion by 3.4% and declined 8.6% year over year. Lower deliveries and home prices weighed on results amid affordability pressure. Inventory turn stood at 2.4 times. United Rentals, Inc. URI reported third-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings per share and total revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increasing year over year. URI's adjusted earnings of $15.55 per share topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.83 by 12.4% and grew 32.9% year over year from $11.70. United Rentals' total revenues rose 15.7% year over year to $4.89 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion by 4.3%. Management raised its revenue outlook to $18-$18.2 billion from $17.5-$17.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is now projected at $8.3-$8.4 billion compared with $7.98-$8.13 billion previously. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NVR, Inc. (NVR) : Free Stock Analysis Report PulteGroup, Inc. (PHM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lennar Corporation (LEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report United Rentals, Inc. (URI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

- Earnings of $2.53 Per Share - Closings of 6,876 Homes Generated Home Sale Revenues of $3.9 Billion - Home Sale Gross Margin of 24.8% - Net New Orders Totaled 6,208 Homes with a Value of $3.5 Billion - Unit Backlog Increased 4% to 10,298 Homes; Backlog Value Increased 3% to $6.4 Billion - Repurchased $350 Million of Common Shares in the Quarter ATLANTA, October 22, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) announced today financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2026. For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $476 million, or $2.53 per share. In the prior year period, the Company reported net income of $586 million, or $2.96 per share. "With homebuying demand increasingly pressured by rising mortgage rates, widespread inflation, and global unrest, we continue to benefit from our diversified operating platform and consistent strategies for delivering superior returns over the housing cycle," said PulteGroup President and CEO, Ryan Marshall. "With more than 60% of our business now comprised of more profitable move-up and active-adult homebuyers, our strong gross margins were instrumental to driving third quarter earnings of $2.53 per share." "The rapid increase in interest rates has stretched affordability even further, made selling an existing home even harder, and has pushed even more consumers to the sidelines," added Mr. Marshall. "Within this environment, we continue to appropriately balance the price and pace of home sales, align production accordingly, and remain disciplined in our allocation of capital." Third Quarter Results The Company generated home sale revenues in the third quarter of $3.9 billion, a decrease of 9% from home sale revenues of $4.2 billion realized in the prior year period. Home sale revenues in the third quarter reflect a 9% decrease in closings to 6,876 homes, in combination with a 1% decrease in the average sales price of homes closed to $561,000. In the third quarter, the Company reported home sale gross margin of 24.8%, compared with 26.2% in the comparable prior year period. The Company's reported third quarter gross margin is inclusive of $26 million, or approximately 70 basis points, of land impairments recorded in the period. Third quarter SG&A expenses were $397 million, or 10.3% of home sale revenues, compared with $401 million, or 9.4%, in last year's third quarter. Third quarter net new orders totaled 6,208 homes, which is down 6% from the prior year's net new orders of 6,638 homes. The value of net new orders in the third quarter was $3.5 billion, compared with $3.6 billion in the third quarter of last year. For its third quarter, the Company's average community count totaled 1,077, or an increase of 7% from the prior year period. At the end of the third quarter, the Company's backlog was 10,298 homes with a value of $6.4 billion. The Company ended last year's third quarter with a backlog of 9,888 homes with a value of $6.2 billion. In the third quarter, the Company's financial services operations generated pre-tax income of $46 million, which is comparable with the prior year period. Mortgage capture rate in the quarter was 85%, up from 84% in the prior year period. PulteGroup repurchased 2.8 million of its common shares in the third quarter for $350 million, or an average price of $124.70 per share. Through the first nine months of 2026, the Company repurchased 8.4 million common shares, or 4% of shares outstanding, for $1.0 billion, or an average price of $123.51 per share. The Company ended the quarter with $1.4 billion of cash and a debt-to-capital ratio of 12%. A conference call discussing PulteGroup's third quarter 2026 results is scheduled for Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Interested investors can access the live webcast via PulteGroup's corporate website at www.pultegroup.com. Forward-Looking Statements This release includes "forward-looking statements." These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets we serve or intend to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate to matters of a strictly factual or historical nature and generally discuss or relate to forecasts, estimates or other expectations regarding future events. Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "continue," "may," "can," "could," "might," "should," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, including statements related to any potential impairment charges and the impacts or effects thereof, expected operating and performing results, planned transactions, planned objectives of management, future developments or conditions in the industries in which we participate and other trends, developments and uncertainties that may affect our business in the future. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: interest rate changes and the availability of mortgage financing; the impact of any changes to our strategy in responding to the cyclical nature of the industry or deteriorations in industry conditions or downward changes in general economic or other business conditions, including any changes regarding our land positions and the levels of our land spend; economic changes nationally or in our local markets, including inflation, deflation, changes in consumer confidence and preferences and the state of the market for homes in general; supply shortages and the cost of labor and building materials; the availability and cost of land and other raw materials used by us in our homebuilding operations; a decline in the value of the land and home inventories we maintain and resulting possible future writedowns of the carrying value of our real estate assets; competition within the industries in which we operate; rapidly changing technological developments including, but not limited to, the use of artificial intelligence in the homebuilding industry; governmental regulation directed at or affecting the housing market, the homebuilding industry or construction activities, slow growth initiatives and/or local building moratoria; the availability and cost of insurance covering risks associated with our businesses, including warranty and other legal or regulatory proceedings or claims; damage from improper acts of persons over whom we do not have control or attempts to impose liabilities or obligations of third parties on us; weather related slowdowns; the impact of climate change and related governmental regulation; adverse capital and credit market conditions, which may affect our access to and cost of capital; the insufficiency of our income tax provisions and tax reserves, including as a result of changing laws or interpretations; the potential that we do not realize our deferred tax assets; our inability to sell mortgages into the secondary market; uncertainty in the mortgage lending industry, including revisions to underwriting standards and repurchase requirements associated with the sale of mortgage loans, and related claims against us; risks associated with the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system; risks related to information technology failures, data security issues, and the effect of cybersecurity incidents and threats; the impact of negative publicity on sales; failure to retain key personnel; the impairment of our intangible assets; disruptions associated with epidemics, pandemics or other serious public health threats (as well as fear of such events), and the measures taken to address it; and other factors of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business and competitive nature. See Item 1A – Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, for a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to our businesses. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or changes in our expectations. About PulteGroup PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM), based in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of America's largest homebuilding companies with operations in more than 45 markets throughout the country. Through its brand portfolio that includes Centex, Pulte Homes, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes, Explore by Del Webb, and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, the company is one of the industry's most versatile homebuilders able to meet the needs of multiple buyer groups and respond to changing consumer demand. PulteGroup's purpose is building incredible places where people can live their dreams. For more information about PulteGroup, Inc. and PulteGroup brands, go to pultegroup.com; pulte.com; centex.com; delwebb.com; divosta.com; and jwhomes.com. Follow PulteGroup, Inc. on X: @PulteGroupNews. PulteGroup, Inc.Consolidated Statements of Operations($000's omitted, except per share data)(Unaudited) | | | | | | | | Three Months Ended | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | Revenues: | | | | | | | Homebuilding | | | | | | | Home sale revenues | $ | 3,859,030 | | | $ | 4,248,375 | | | $ | 10,973,638 | | | $ | 12,265,619 | Land sale and other revenues | | 7,790 | | | | 53,169 | | | | 116,025 | | | | 140,345 | | | 3,866,820 | | | | 4,301,544 | | | | 11,089,663 | | | | 12,405,964 | Financial Services | | 107,026 | | | | 103,255 | | | | 275,712 | | | | 295,241 | Total revenues | | 3,973,846 | | | | 4,404,799 | | | | 11,365,375 | | | | 12,701,205 | | | | | | | | Homebuilding Cost of Revenues: | | | | | | | Home sale cost of revenues | | (2,901,856 | ) | | | (3,133,548 | ) | | | (8,258,644 | ) | | | (8,968,112 | ) Land sale and other cost of revenues | | (5,046 | ) | | | (48,062 | ) | | | (100,322 | ) | | | (129,504 | ) | | (2,906,902 | ) | | | (3,181,610 | ) | | | (8,358,966 | ) | | | (9,097,616 | ) | | | | | | | Financial Services expenses | | (61,468 | ) | | | (58,897 | ) | | | (181,306 | ) | | | (173,478 | ) Selling, general, and administrative expenses | | (397,198 | ) | | | (400,681 | ) | | | (1,160,497 | ) | | | (1,184,472 | ) Equity income (loss) from unconsolidated entities, net | | (2,772 | ) | | | 2,422 | | | | 2,069 | | | | 3,333 | Other income, net | | 19,700 | | | | 1,755 | | | | 30,366 | | | | 7,110 | Income before income taxes | | 625,206 | | | | 767,788 | | | | 1,697,041 | | | | 2,256,082 | Income tax expense | | (149,479 | ) | | | (181,954 | ) | | | (402,315 | ) | | | (538,967 | ) Net income | $ | 475,727 | | | $ | 585,834 | | | $ | 1,294,726 | | | $ | 1,717,115 | | | | | | | | Per share: | | | | | | | Basic earnings | $ | 2.55 | | | $ | 2.98 | | | $ | 6.84 | | | $ | 8.62 | Diluted earnings | $ | 2.53 | | | $ | 2.96 | | | $ | 6.79 | | | $ | 8.55 | Cash dividends declared | $ | 0.26 | | | $ | 0.22 | | | $ | 0.78 | | | $ | 0.66 | | | | | | | | Number of shares used in calculation: | | | | | | | Basic | | 186,633 | | | | 196,536 | | | | 189,353 | | | | 199,258 | Effect of dilutive securities | | 1,205 | | | | 1,605 | | | | 1,239 | | | | 1,548 | Diluted | | 187,838 | | | | 198,141 | | | | 190,592 | | | | 200,806 | PulteGroup, Inc.Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | | | September 30, 2026 | | December 31, 2025 | | | ASSETS | | | | | | Cash and equivalents | $ | 1,369,902 | | | $ | 1,980,869 | Restricted cash | | 38,125 | | | | 27,907 | Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | | 1,408,027 | | | | 2,008,776 | House and land inventory | | 14,090,509 | | | | 12,925,413 | Residential mortgage loans available-for-sale | | 433,947 | | | | 613,665 | Investments in unconsolidated entities | | 141,741 | | | | 167,342 | Other assets | | 2,303,038 | | | | 2,217,483 | Goodwill | | 40,377 | | | | 40,377 | Other intangible assets | | 21,973 | | | | 26,210 | Deferred tax assets | | 45,294 | | | | 49,157 | | $ | 18,484,906 | | | $ | 18,048,423 | | | | LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY | | | | | | Liabilities: | | | Accounts payable | $ | 747,157 | | | $ | 724,885 | Customer deposits | | 515,886 | | | | 387,837 | Deferred tax liabilities | | 469,179 | | | | 448,493 | Accrued and other liabilities | | 1,464,582 | | | | 1,338,330 | Financial Services debt | | 383,245 | | | | 532,338 | Notes payable | | 1,808,896 | | | | 1,631,098 | | | 5,388,945 | | | | 5,062,981 | Shareholders' equity | | 13,095,961 | | | | 12,985,442 | | $ | 18,484,906 | | | $ | 18,048,423 | PulteGroup, Inc.Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | Cash flows from operating activities: | | | Net income | $ | 1,294,726 | | | $ | 1,717,115 | Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: | | | Deferred income tax expense | | 24,524 | | | | 51,921 | Land-related charges | | 65,030 | | | | 69,811 | Loss on debt retirement | | 2,637 | | | | — | Depreciation and amortization | | 76,626 | | | | 75,549 | Equity income from unconsolidated entities, net | | (2,069 | ) | | | (3,333 | ) Distributions of income from unconsolidated entities | | 4,758 | | | | 3,060 | Share-based compensation expense | | 44,718 | | | | 43,221 | Other, net | | (21,494 | ) | | | (739 | ) Increase (decrease) in cash due to: | | | Inventories | | (1,149,355 | ) | | | (635,860 | ) Residential mortgage loans available-for-sale | | 179,718 | | | | 143,516 | Other assets | | (127,060 | ) | | | (203,007 | ) Accounts payable, accrued and other liabilities | | 244,207 | | | | (161,132 | ) Net cash provided by operating activities | | 636,966 | | | | 1,100,122 | Cash flows from investing activities: | | | Capital expenditures | | (78,221 | ) | | | (91,401 | ) Investments in unconsolidated entities | | (45,773 | ) | | | (9,171 | ) Distributions of capital from unconsolidated entities | | 21,564 | | | | 45,669 | Proceeds from asset dispositions | | 90,587 | | | | 2,799 | Other investing activities, net | | 3,000 | | | | (12,000 | ) Net cash used in investing activities | | (8,843 | ) | | | (64,104 | ) Cash flows from financing activities: | | | Proceeds from debt issuance | | 794,784 | | | | — | Repayments of notes payable | | (612,691 | ) | | | (9,163 | ) Financial Services repayments, net | | (149,093 | ) | | | (122,683 | ) Debt issuance costs | | (23,411 | ) | | | (1,446 | ) Proceeds from liabilities related to consolidated inventory not owned | | 26,558 | | | | 25,643 | Payments related to consolidated inventory not owned | | (31,633 | ) | | | (32,981 | ) Share repurchases | | (1,031,567 | ) | | | (900,000 | ) Excise tax on share repurchases | | (11,482 | ) | | | (11,550 | ) Cash paid for shares withheld for taxes | | (39,557 | ) | | | (24,303 | ) Dividends paid | | (150,780 | ) | | | (133,658 | ) Net cash used in financing activities | | (1,228,872 | ) | | | (1,210,141 | ) Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | | (600,749 | ) | | | (174,123 | ) Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of period | | 2,008,776 | | | | 1,653,680 | Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of period | $ | 1,408,027 | | | $ | 1,479,557 | | | | Supplemental Cash Flow Information: | | | Interest paid, net | $ | 10,760 | | | $ | 12,904 | Income taxes paid, net | $ | 410,565 | | | $ | 533,574 | PulteGroup, Inc.Segment Data($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | | | | | | | Three Months Ended | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | HOMEBUILDING: | | | | | | | Home sale revenues | $ | 3,859,030 | | | $ | 4,248,375 | | | $ | 10,973,638 | | | $ | 12,265,619 | Land sale and other revenues | | 7,790 | | | | 53,169 | | | | 116,025 | | | | 140,345 | Total Homebuilding revenues | | 3,866,820 | | | | 4,301,544 | | | | 11,089,663 | | | | 12,405,964 | | | | | | | | Home sale cost of revenues | | (2,901,856 | ) | | | (3,133,548 | ) | | | (8,258,644 | ) | | | (8,968,112 | ) Land sale and other cost of revenues | | (5,046 | ) | | | (48,062 | ) | | | (100,322 | ) | | | (129,504 | ) Selling, general, and administrative expenses | | (397,198 | ) | | | (400,681 | ) | | | (1,160,497 | ) | | | (1,184,472 | ) Equity income (loss) from unconsolidated entities, net | | (2,772 | ) | | | 2,422 | | | | 959 | | | | 2,083 | Other income, net | | 19,700 | | | | 1,755 | | | | 30,366 | | | | 7,110 | Income before income taxes | $ | 579,648 | | | $ | 723,430 | | | $ | 1,601,525 | | | $ | 2,133,069 | | | | | | | | FINANCIAL SERVICES: | | | | | | | Income before income taxes | $ | 45,558 | | | $ | 44,358 | | | $ | 95,516 | | | $ | 123,013 | | | | | | | | CONSOLIDATED: | | | | | | | Income before income taxes | $ | 625,206 | | | $ | 767,788 | | | $ | 1,697,041 | | | $ | 2,256,082 | PulteGroup, Inc.Segment Data, continued($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | | | | | | | Three Months Ended | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | | | | | Home sale revenues | $ | 3,859,030 | | | $ | 4,248,375 | | | $ | 10,973,638 | | | $ | 12,265,619 | | | | | | | | Closings - units | | | | | | | Northeast | | 363 | | | | 408 | | | | 955 | | | | 1,198 | Southeast | | 1,305 | | | | 1,444 | | | | 3,903 | | | | 4,039 | Florida | | 1,904 | | | | 1,932 | | | | 5,468 | | | | 5,464 | Midwest | | 1,197 | | | | 1,313 | | | | 3,347 | | | | 3,675 | Texas | | 989 | | | | 1,073 | | | | 2,976 | | | | 3,330 | West | | 1,118 | | | | 1,359 | | | | 3,326 | | | | 4,045 | | | 6,876 | | | | 7,529 | | | | 19,975 | | | | 21,751 | Average selling price | $ | 561 | | | $ | 564 | | | $ | 549 | | | $ | 564 | | | | | | | | Net new orders - units | | | | | | | Northeast | | 316 | | | | 371 | | | | 1,156 | | | | 1,159 | Southeast | | 1,132 | | | | 1,354 | | | | 3,997 | | | | 4,115 | Florida | | 1,823 | | | | 1,721 | | | | 6,144 | | | | 5,363 | Midwest | | 1,130 | | | | 1,144 | | | | 3,824 | | | | 3,804 | Texas | | 862 | | | | 938 | | | | 3,173 | | | | 3,267 | West | | 945 | | | | 1,110 | | | | 3,484 | | | | 3,778 | | | 6,208 | | | | 6,638 | | | | 21,778 | | | | 21,486 | Net new orders - dollars | $ | 3,498,584 | | | $ | 3,639,690 | | | $ | 12,147,961 | | | $ | 12,005,455 | | | | | | | | Unit backlog | | | | | | | Northeast | | | | | | 708 | | | | 576 | Southeast | | | | | | 1,845 | | | | 1,988 | Florida | | | | | | 3,097 | | | | 2,694 | Midwest | | | | | | 2,082 | | | | 1,931 | Texas | | | | | | 988 | | | | 885 | West | | | | | | 1,578 | | | | 1,814 | | | | | | | 10,298 | | | | 9,888 | Dollars in backlog | | | | | $ | 6,444,435 | | | $ | 6,234,554 | PulteGroup, Inc.Segment Data, continued($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | | | | | | | Three Months Ended | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | MORTGAGE ORIGINATIONS: | | | | | | | Origination volume | | 4,438 | | | | 4,782 | | | | 13,056 | | | | 14,037 | Origination principal | $ | 1,920,110 | | | $ | 2,054,441 | | | $ | 5,599,429 | | | $ | 6,085,214 | Capture rate | | 84.6 | % | | | 84.4 | % | | | 84.9 | % | | | 85.1 | % Supplemental Data($000's omitted)(Unaudited) | | | | | | | | Three Months Ended | | Nine Months Ended | September 30, | | September 30, | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | 2026 | | | | 2025 | | | | | | | | Interest in inventory, beginning of period | $ | 125,299 | | | $ | 136,624 | | | $ | 122,327 | | | $ | 139,960 | Interest capitalized | | 29,550 | | | | 26,139 | | | | 85,874 | | | | 78,360 | Interest expensed | | (28,627 | ) | | | (31,199 | ) | | | (81,979 | ) | | | (86,756 | ) Interest in inventory, end of period | $ | 126,222 | | | $ | 131,564 | | | $ | 126,222 | | | $ | 131,564 | PulteGroup, Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures This report contains information about our debt-to-capital ratios. These measures could be considered non-GAAP financial measures under the SEC's rules and should be considered in addition to, rather than as a substitute for, comparable GAAP financial measures. We calculate total net debt by subtracting total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash from notes payable to present the amount of assets needed to satisfy the debt. We use the debt-to-capital and net debt-to-capital ratios as indicators of our overall leverage and believe they are useful financial measures in understanding the leverage employed in our operations. We believe that these measures provide investors relevant and useful information for evaluating the comparability of financial information presented and comparing our profitability and liquidity to other companies in the homebuilding industry. Although other companies in the homebuilding industry report similar information, the methods used may differ. We urge investors to understand the methods used by other companies in the homebuilding industry to calculate these measures and any adjustments thereto before comparing our measures to those of such other companies. The following table sets forth a reconciliation of the debt-to-capital ratios ($000's omitted): Debt-to-Capital Ratios | | | | | | September 30, 2026 | | December 31, 2025 Notes payable | | $ | 1,808,896 | | | $ | 1,631,098 | Shareholders' equity | | | 13,095,961 | | | | 12,985,442 | Total capital | | $ | 14,904,857 | | | $ | 14,616,540 | Debt-to-capital ratio | | | 12.1 | % | | | 11.2 | % | | | | Notes payable | | $ | 1,808,896 | | | $ | 1,631,098 | Less: Total cash, cash equivalents, andrestricted cash | | | (1,408,027 | ) | | | (2,008,776 | ) Total net debt | | $ | 400,869 | | | $ | (377,678 | ) Shareholders' equity | | | 13,095,961 | | | | 12,985,442 | Total net capital | | $ | 13,496,830 | | | $ | 12,607,764 | Net debt-to-capital ratio | | | 3.0 | % | | | (3.0 | )% View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261022407731/en/ Contacts Company Contact Investors: Jim Zeumer (404) 978-6434 [email protected]

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. - Management attributed the third-quarter sales deceleration to a 'notable slowdown' in demand as interest rates surged in September, causing many consumers to pause their home search. - The company prioritized 'core home-buying demand' and margin preservation over chasing volume in a market showing little price elasticity, where management believes aggressive discounting would not generate incremental sales. - Performance was bolstered by geographic diversity, with Florida and Midwest markets offsetting softer demand in the Southeast and ongoing affordability challenges in the West. - Operational efficiency improved as cycle times dropped below 100 days for the first time since pre-COVID, despite broader labor market disruptions from immigration enforcement. - The active adult segment remained a strategic bright spot, with sign-ups increasing 11% year-over-year, benefiting from long-term land investments and the rollout of the Explore by Del Webb brand. - Management noted that while buyer conversion rates remained stable, traffic to communities dropped 14% year-over-year, primarily driven by first-time buyers who are most sensitive to rate hikes. - Fourth-quarter guidance assumes a continued need to sell and close spec inventory, with gross margins expected to range between 24.0% and 24.5% due to anticipated incentives. - The company plans to invest approximately $5.3 billion in land for the full year 2026 but signaled readiness to reduce 2027 land spend if market conditions warrant. - Management maintains a long-term goal of transitioning the business mix to 60% build-to-order (dirt sales) and 40% spec homes by the end of 2027 to optimize margins. - Guidance for full-year SG&A was adjusted to 10.3%–10.5% of revenue, reflecting a loss of leverage as communities take longer to close out at lower absorption paces. - The strategic framework assumes that while consumer confidence is currently weighed down by inflation and global tensions, a modest pullback in rates could quickly re-engage sidelined buyers. - PulteGroup walked away from approximately 8,000 lots under option in Q3, demonstrating a disciplined approach to abandoning transactions that no longer meet risk-adjusted return thresholds. - Land impairment charges of $26 million (70 basis points) were recorded in the third quarter, reflecting the impact of changing market dynamics on specific assets. - The company returned $1.2 billion to shareholders through the first nine months of 2026, utilizing its strong balance sheet to maintain systematic share repurchases despite market volatility. - Management highlighted the 'flywheel' challenge where move-up buyers are hindered by the inability of their own prospective buyers to access the mortgage rate buy-downs available for new homes. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. - Management stated they are seeing 'inelasticity in price' currently, meaning deep discounts are not necessarily driving more sales but are making existing sales less profitable. - They intend to stay disciplined with incentives unless they see clear evidence that leaning in will generate true incremental volume. - Ryan Marshall noted that the biggest impediment for move-up buyers is the difficulty of selling their current homes to buyers facing 7.5% rates without the benefit of builder-sponsored buy-downs. - He observed a rare phenomenon where new home pricing is currently competitive with, or even lower than, resale pricing in many markets. - Management emphasized they will not acquire competitors just for size; any M&A must provide specific access to desired consumer groups or strategic markets. - They view M&A primarily as an alternative form of land capital allocation and will remain 'choosy' despite having a strong cash position. - Build costs were flat sequentially at $75 per square foot, but management warned of potential inflationary pressures from fuel and labor. - Disruptions in the broad labor pool due to immigration enforcement were cited as a specific headwind currently being navigated by construction teams.

PulteGroup, Inc. PHM reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter 2026 results, with earnings and total revenues missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate and declining year over year. Earnings fell 14.5%, while revenues decreased 9.8% from the prior-year quarter. The quarterly performance reflected lower home-closing volumes, softer average selling prices (ASP) and margin compression. Persistently challenging housing affordability, rising mortgage rates and inflation weighed on homebuyer demand. Net new orders declined year over year, although the company's backlog increased in both units and dollar value. PHM stock plunged almost 6% following the earnings release. Quarterly earnings were $2.53 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.63 by 3.8%. Earnings fell from $2.96 per share in the prior-year quarter. Total revenues (Homebuilding & Financial Services) of $3.97 billion lagged the consensus mark of $4.13 billion by 3.9% and decreased 9.8% from $4.40 billion in the year-ago period. Net income declined 18.8% year over year to $475.7 million from $585.8 million. Income before income taxes fell 18.6% to $625.2 million, reflecting weaker homebuilding profitability. PulteGroup, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | PulteGroup, Inc. Quote Homebuilding segment revenues decreased 10.1% year over year to $3.87 billion. Home sale revenues declined 9.2% to $3.86 billion, primarily reflecting lower home-closing volumes and a modest reduction in average selling prices. Land sale and other revenues dropped to $7.8 million from $53.2 million. The number of homes closed fell 8.7% year over year to 6,876 units. Deliveries declined across all six geographic regions, with the West and Northeast witnessing particularly pronounced contractions. The ASP of homes delivered slipped 0.5% to $561,000 from $564,000. Homebuilding income before income taxes decreased 19.9% year over year to $579.6 million from $723.4 million. The decline reflected reduced sales volumes and continued pressure on home-sale margins. Net new orders declined 6.5% year over year to 6,208 homes from 6,638. Orders increased in Florida but decreased across the remaining five geographic regions. The average community count rose 7% to 1,077, indicating that a larger selling footprint did not translate into higher overall orders. The dollar value of net new orders fell 3.9% to $3.50 billion from $3.64 billion in the prior-year quarter. PulteGroup ended the quarter with a backlog of 10,298 homes, up 4.1% year over year. Backlog units increased in the Northeast, Florida, Midwest and Texas, while the Southeast and West recorded declines. The value of homes in the backlog rose 3.4% to $6.44 billion, indicating a modest increase in the company's future home-delivery pipeline despite softer current-quarter demand. Home sale gross margin contracted 140 basis points (bps) year over year to 24.8% from 26.2%. The reported margin included $26 million of land impairments, representing approximately 70 bps of margin pressure. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses declined to $397.2 million from $400.7 million. However, as a percentage of home sale revenues, SG&A expenses increased 90 bps to 10.3%, reflecting reduced operating leverage amid lower revenues. Management emphasized its strategy of balancing home pricing and sales pace while aligning production with demand conditions. Move-up and active-adult buyers accounted for more than 60% of the company's business, supporting its focus on maintaining profitability amid housing-market challenges. Financial Services revenues increased 3.7% year over year to $107 million from $103.3 million. Segment income before income taxes improved 2.7% to $45.6 million from $44.4 million. Mortgage origination volume declined 7.2% to 4,438 loans from 4,782, while origination principal fell 6.5% to $1.92 billion from $2.05 billion. The mortgage capture rate improved to 84.6% from 84.4%, reflecting a slightly higher proportion of eligible homebuyers using the company's mortgage services. PulteGroup ended the quarter with $1.41 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, down from $2.01 billion at 2025-end. Notes payable totaled $1.81 billion, resulting in a debt-to-capital ratio of 12.1% and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 3%. Operating cash flow for the first nine months of 2026 declined 42.1% year over year to $637 million, partly reflecting a $1.15 billion increase in inventories. During the third quarter, PHM repurchased 2.8 million shares for $350 million. For the first nine months, repurchases totaled $1.03 billion, representing approximately 8.4 million shares. The company continued returning capital to shareholders while maintaining a relatively low leverage position. PulteGroup currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. KB Home KBH reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings of $1.05 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents by 19.3%. Earnings declined 34.8% from $1.61 per share in the year-ago quarter. KBH's total revenues of $1.30 billion surpassed the consensus mark of $1.29 billion by 0.4% but dropped 20% year over year. Results reflected lower deliveries and continued pricing pressure, partly offset by progress in the company's Built to Order model. BTO homes represented 74% of deliveries, supporting sequential improvement in housing gross margin. Lennar Corporation LEN reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter fiscal 2026 (ended Aug. 31) results. Adjusted earnings of $1.23 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.29 by 4.7% and fell 38.5% from $2.00 per share a year ago. Lennar's total revenues of $8.05 billion missed the consensus estimate of $8.33 billion by 3.4% and declined 8.6% year over year. Lower deliveries and home prices weighed on results amid affordability pressure. Inventory turn stood at 2.4 times. United Rentals, Inc. URI reported third-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings per share and total revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increasing year over year. URI's adjusted earnings of $15.55 per share topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.83 by 12.4% and grew 32.9% year over year from $11.70 per share. URI's total revenues rose 15.7% year over year to $4.89 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $4.69 billion by 4.3%. United Rentals management raised its revenue outlook to $18-$18.2 billion from $17.5-$17.8 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is now projected at $8.3-$8.4 billion compared with $7.98-$8.13 billion previously. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PulteGroup, Inc. (PHM) : Free Stock Analysis Report KB Home (KBH) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lennar Corporation (LEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report United Rentals, Inc. (URI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 - Vice President - James Zeumer - President and CEO - Ryan R. Marshall - Executive Vice President and CFO - James L. Ossowski - Senior Vice President Finance - David Carrier Operator: After today's prepared remarks, we will host a and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. I will now hand the conference over to James Zeumer, vice president. Jim, please go ahead. James Zeumer: Thank you, Erica, and good morning. I want to thank you for joining today's call. As we look forward to discussing PulteGroup's third quarter operating and financial results. On today's call, I am joined by Ryan R. Marshall, President and CEO; James L. Ossowski, Executive vice president and CFO and David Carrier, senior vice president finance. A copy of our earnings release and this morning's presentation have been posted to our corporate website at pultigroup.com. We will also post an audio replay of this call later today. I would highlight that today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's expected future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those suggested by our comments today. The most significant risk factors that could affect future results are summarized as part of today's earnings release, and within the accompanying presentation slides. These risk factors and other key information are detailed in our SEC filings, including our annual and quarterly reports. Let me turn the call over to Ryan. Ryan R. Marshall: Thanks, Jim, and good morning. I am very proud of the business results our organization delivered thus far in 2026. In a world where we cannot control global events or macroeconomic conditions, we can manage how we respond to the operating environment. To that end, I think PulteGroup continues to do an excellent job navigating today's evolving market dynamics. And doing so in a way that is consistent with our long-term operating strategies. We continued this approach in the third quarter, as we remain disciplined in our business practices and focused on delivering an outstanding home-buying experience within a period that underwent meaningful change. To the former in the third quarter, we delivered almost 7 thousand homes, maintained our focus on delivering strong gross margins and overall solid returns, while increasing our backlog and returning nearly $400 million back to our shareholders. As to the latter, consistent with all the reporting and commentary swirling around the current state of the U.S. housing industry, we experienced a notable slowdown in home-buying demand as we moved through the third quarter and interest rates surged higher. The reality that buyer demand slowed through the quarter will not be news to anyone on this call, What I think is interesting, however, is exactly how buyers responded. Based on feedback from our sales associates, in the third quarter, they were routinely working through these important customer issues. Buyers are spending more time getting comfortable with the higher monthly payments interest rates, and financing options before moving forward. The need to sell an existing home remains 1 of the most conversion barriers. Buyers have clear expectations regarding lot characteristics, home functionality, and overall fit. In other words, they are taking advantage of market conditions to be very particular about what they are willing to pay for. And finally, timing often appears to be a symptom rather than the true obstacle. In many conversations, our sense is that not ready yet is really about financing or existing home sale readiness. Rather than timing itself. The most interesting point with these comments, they really have not changed very much from earlier in the year when interest rates initially started moving higher. Prospective buyers continue to have concerns about stretched affordability, high monthly payments, and home sale contingencies. Our sales teams were able to help buyers solve these challenges such that our conversion rates in the third quarter were comparable to the first 2 quarters of 2026. So if the buyer issues have not changed, we are still able to convert prospects at a similar rate, why the meaningful deceleration in reported sales? What changed in the quarter and most notably in September is that the big move higher in interest rates along with inflation, global tensions, and waning confidence reached the point where more consumers simply put their search on pause. In the third quarter, our customer conversion rates were relatively stable, but traffic to our communities was down 14% from the prior year and on a sequential basis down 11% from the second quarter. These conditions have continued through the first few weeks of October. As you would expect, most of the missing traffic were first-time buyers, as this group remains the most impacted by higher interest rates. Not only did this pronounced slowdown among our first time buyers impact our third quarter sign ups, but it also directly impacted our closing volumes for the quarter as the majority of our spec sales are within our first-time buyer communities. We have done a great job controlling starts and, in turn, spec inventory but the impact of having fewer finished spec sales reduced our home closings in the third quarter. I fully appreciate that this is not a very upbeat message for an earnings call. But it is important to acknowledge that the change in the market conditions over the past 30 to 45 days when discussing PulteGroup's results for the quarter and the year to date. Consistent with previous quarters, in the third quarter, we focused on serving what we consider core home-buying demand rather than chasing volume in a market showing little price elasticity. You can see this in PulteGroup's reported Q3 financial results, as closings came in slightly below our guide but a strong reported gross margin of 24.8% helped the company to deliver earnings of $476 million or $2.53 per share. Through the first 9 months of 2026, PulteGroup delivered just shy of 20 thousand homes and generated $11 billion of home sale revenues. Operating within this year's more competitive market conditions, we have appropriately managed price and pace to capture sales while driving year-to-date gross margins and operating margins 24.7%, 14.2% respectively. In alignment with our capital allocation priorities, our strong 9 month financial results supported investment of $4 billion into land acquisition and development, and the return of $1.2 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. I will provide more detail on how we are navigating current demand dynamics later, but first, let me turn the call over to James L. Ossowski for a detailed review of PulteGroup's third quarter financial performance. James L. Ossowski: Thank you, Ryan, and good morning. In what was a challenging quarter for US housing, our financial results once again show the value of our more diversified and balanced operating platform. Let's get started. Our net new orders in the third quarter totaled 6.21 thousand homes which is a decrease of 6% from the third quarter of last year. Reflective of Ryan's comments about lower consumer traffic, the decrease in Q3 net new orders was driven by a 13% decrease in absorption pace partially offset by a 7% increase in average community count of 1.08 thousand for the quarter. In the third quarter, our cancellation rate as a percentage of starting backlog was 10% which is down from 12% last year and down 50 basis points from Q2 of this year. Even in today's dynamic demand environment, these relatively stable cancellation rates suggest that customers under contract remain committed to closing on their home. Our absorption pace for the third quarter was 1.9 homes per month, which compares with an absorption pace of 2.2 homes per month last year. Absorption pace was lowest in September, as interest rates surged higher throughout the month. Our lower absorption pace as a consequence of the drop in prospective buyer traffic to PulteGroup communities. By buyer group, net new orders in the third quarter among first-time and move-up buyers were down 9%, and 14%, respectively, from last year. Once again, we benefited from our leadership position serving active adult consumers as Q3 sign ups among those buyers was up 11% over last year. The slower sales among move up buyers reflect in part ongoing weakness within this buyer group in our Texas and West operations. Within our active adult business, we continue to benefit from our prior year land investments as the increase in net new orders was a result of ongoing community count growth. For the past 5 years, we have grown our active adult community count by 20% and we look to increase market share even further with the ongoing rollout of our new Explore by Del Webb brand. PulteGroup's third quarter home sale revenues totaled $3.9 billion which is down 9% from last year's third quarter revenues of $4.2 billion Lower revenues for the quarter were primarily the result of a 9% in closing volumes to 6.88 thousand homes. Q3 closing volumes were negatively impacted by rising interest rates and reduced consumer confidence as we sold fewer of spec homes that we were expecting to sell and close within the period. By buyer group, third quarter closings break down as follows. First-time and move-up were both 38% while active adult accounted for 24% of closings in the period. Closings in the third quarter of 2025 were comprised of 39% first time, 39% move up and 22% active adult. On a year over year basis, third quarter backlog was higher in both units, and value. We ended this year's third quarter with a backlog of 10.3 thousand homes valued at $6.4 billion compared with prior year backlog of 9.89 thousand homes with a value of $6.2 billion At the end of the third quarter, we had 14.6 thousand homes in production, of which 6.63 thousand or 45% were spec homes. Our divisions have done an excellent job managing production as total specs are down 10% from the same period last year, while finished specs are down 16% from last year to 1.7 thousand or an average of 1.6 finished spec homes per community. While our current spec inventory level is right sized, we continue to tightly control our starts pace to align production with changing demand dynamics. In the third quarter, started just over 6.5 thousand homes during a period in which we sold 6.2 thousand houses. Based on backlog, homes under construction, and recent trends in the pace of spec sales, we now expect to close between 7 thousand and 7.5 thousand homes in the fourth quarter. We still have to sell and close a number of spec homes to achieve the guide, so we will be closely assessing buyer demand and taking the appropriate steps needed to convert spec inventory into closings. Further, given the expected Q4 closings, we now anticipate full year closings to be in the range of 27 thousand to 27.5 thousand homes. Based on the mix of homes we anticipate closing in the fourth quarter, we are still guiding our average sales price in closings to be in the range of $550 thousand to $560 thousand in the fourth quarter and for the full year. Based on prior year land investments, we came into 2026 expecting year over year community count growth of 3% to 5% for each quarter, but our average Q3 community count of 1.08 thousand was up 7% over last year. The higher growth rate realized in Q3 reflects the slower closeout of existing communities in the period. We are still forecasting year over year community count growth of 3% to 5% in the fourth quarter, but fewer community closeouts in the period. Could again elevate the percentage growth rate. Consistent with our previous guidance, our reported third quarter gross margin was 24.8%, which is down 140 basis points from last year and down 20 basis points sequentially. From Q2 of this year. Our reported third quarter gross margin is inclusive of incentives of 10.4%, as well as $26 million or 70 basis points of land impairment charges recorded in the period. In the comparable prior year period, incentives were 8.9% we recorded $17 million of land impairments. On a positive note, our national and divisional world procurement teams continued to do an excellent job working with our trades and product suppliers to manage construction costs. Ulti's third quarter build costs were $75 per square foot, is down 5% from last year and flat with the second quarter of 2026. Taking into consideration our backlog, current demand conditions, competitive market dynamics, and the need to cycle through existing spec inventory we expect fourth quarter gross margins to be in the range of 24.0% to 24.5%. Given our Q4 margin guide, we are maintaining our guidance for full year gross margin to be in the range of 24.5% to 25.0%. SG&A expense for the third quarter was $397 million or 10.3% of home sale revenues. In Q3 of last year, SG&A expense was $401 million or 9.4% of home sale revenues. With higher interest rates pressuring consumer demand, and the potential that rates remain elevated for longer, we remain focused on controlling overhead expenses while still delivering superior build quality, and an outstanding home-buying experience. Still, given our updated forecast for fewer closings this year, we now expect full year 2026 SG&A expense to be in the range of 10.3% to 10.5% of home sale revenues. Our financial services operations reported third quarter pretax income of $46 million which is up slightly from last year's pretax income of $44 million Mortgage capture rate in this year's third quarter was 85%, compared with 84% last year. PulteGroup's reported pretax income for the third quarter was $625 million and our tax expense for the period was $149 million or an effective tax rate of 23.9%. Our effective tax rate benefited from energy tax credits recorded in Q3. For the fourth quarter, we expect our tax rate to be approximately 24.5% assuming no discrete period specific tax events. Q3 reported net income was $476 million or $2.53 per share. In the third quarter of 25, we reported net income of $586 million or $2.96 per share. Pulte's Q3 earnings per share was calculated based on 188 million diluted shares which was down 5% from the prior year as we continue to allocate capital to systematically repurchase outstanding shares. In Q3 of this year, we repurchased 2.8 million common shares for $350 million an average price of $124.70 per share. Over the first 9 months of 2026, we repurchased 8.4 million common shares for $1 billion for an average price of $123.51 per share. While market conditions can make underwriting land transactions more difficult, we were successful in investing $1.3 billion in land acquisition and development in the third quarter, of which 51% was for the development of our existing land assets. Year to date, we have invested $4 billion in land acquisitions and development. We now expect to invest approximately $5.3 billion in land for all of 2026. Inclusive of land transactions completed in the period, we ended Q3 with approximately 224 thousand lots under control. Total lots under control are down 16 thousand from the third quarter of last year and down 4 thousand lots sequentially from Q2 of this year. We continue to underwrite new land deals, we are also walking away from select option transactions that may no longer meet risk adjusted return thresholds. In the third quarter, elected to walk away from approximately 8 thousand lots previously held under option. As we have discussed on prior calls, we view lot options as a tool to both improve project returns and to help mitigate market risk. 1 without the other, really provides PulteGroup with limited if any value. Reflecting on our differentiated approach to the land options. At the end of Q3, over 85% of PulteGroup's land options were with underlying land sellers. The rest of our options are structured as 1 off transactions with a select number of land bankers. At the end of the quarter, we had 55% of our lots held under option. Lastly, when it comes to optioning dirt, we continue to solve for the best business outcome on a deal by deal basis rather than simply targeting an option lot percentage. Given our operating results for the first 9 months of 2026, we still expect operating cash flow generation for the full year to be approximately $1 billion and finally, we ended Q3 with $1.4 billion of cash and debt-to-capital ratio of 12.1%. Adjusting for the cash balance, our net debt-to-capital ratio at quarter end was 3%. Now let me turn the call back to Ryan for some final comments. Ryan R. Marshall: Thanks, Jim. This latest increase in interest rates has forced more consumers to the sidelines and work to make overall operating conditions more challenging. While higher rates made demand conditions in the third quarter generally more competitive throughout the country, our geographic diversity again proved incredibly valuable. In the third quarter, we continue to see outperformance in our Florida operations and key markets in the Midwest. Better performance in these markets helped to offset softer demand in other areas of the country, including markets in the Southeast and ongoing weakness out West. Looking beyond the quarterly earnings, I believe in the fundamental strength of long-term housing demand, and across all the generations and populations the desire for homeownership remains as high as ever, as the financial and emotional underpinnings are too compelling to ignore. I also believe that after months of mortgage rates above 7%, consumers could view even a modest pullback in interest rates as reason enough to reengage in the home buying process. Although I acknowledge that it may take more than just a move lower in interest rates, as consumer confidence is weighed down by rising fuel costs, and fears about ongoing inflation and conflict in The Middle East. While a quick reacceleration in home buying activity is certainly possible, the reality is that higher interest rates pressured industry wide new home sales in September. And the potential for interest rates to stay higher for longer is clearly present. As such, I think it is helpful to discuss how we are assessing market opportunities and challenges. First, our diversified operating platform offers tremendous advantages as we can capitalize on the stronger markets, and consumer groups to help offset any weakness in other parts of the business. Second, consistent with our demonstrated operating practices, we remain focused on serving core demand rather than shedding margins in pursuit of less profitable low-returning volumes. Obviously, we must turn assets. But sometimes lowering price does not generate incremental sales. Rather, it just makes all your home sales less profitable. Third, we have a robust and well structured land pipeline. We are on track to invest $5.3 billion in land acquisition and development this year. If conditions warrant, we are fully prepared to reduce land spend in 2027. Further, given the very intentional way we have structured our controlled lot position, we can and will walk away from option lots that no longer meet return hurdles. And finally, PulteGroup's balance sheet provides tremendous strength and financial flexibility. With $1.4 billion in cash, and net debt-to-capital of only 3%, not only can we weather tough times, but we can capitalize on market opportunities as they develop. Last week, we had our quarterly operations reviews with my senior team along with our 4 area presidents, and the president of Pulte Financial Services. Beyond just reviewing Q3 results, the field leaders already developed action plans and where appropriate, are already taking steps to respond to the changing market dynamics. I cannot underestimate the value of having an experienced leadership team that can quickly assess and adjust. I want to thank them and the entire PulteGroup organization for the operating and financial success they delivered in the third quarter and for their efforts to ensure our company's success going forward. Now let me turn the call over to James Zeumer. James Zeumer: Great. Thanks, Ryan. We are now prepared to open the call for questions. We can get to as many questions as possible during the remaining time on this call. We ask that you limit yourself to 1 question and 1 follow-up. Erica, we are prepared to start Q&A. Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please standby while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Alan Ratner with Zelman. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Alan Ratner: Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for all the detail, and nice job in a tough market. Appreciate the color on the traffic during the quarter. I was hoping to dig in a little bit more on some price point trends that you are seeing recognizing that both move up and active adult, I think, have been relative outperformers for quite a while now. Did you see the same magnitude of traffic pullback at those price points? Or are you seeing maybe differences in behavior between, you know, the move-up and active adult buyers versus entry level right now given the recent rate move? James L. Ossowski: Yes, Alan. Thanks for the question. Definitely, all buyer groups felt it. But the first-time was outsized impact there. So I do not think you know, any buyer group is totally immune, but the move-up in the active adult certainly fare better, especially, you know, given a lot of those buyers, in our world pay cash. They are less kind of rate sensitive than the first time buyers, which, you know, largely 100% need a 30 year mortgage or some kind of mortgage. Alan Ratner: Got it. That makes sense. And then on the gross margin guide, obviously, a little bit of pressure sequentially, but not too much. And I am just curious with incentives, flat on closings, can you talk a little bit about what you are doing on orders right now? And ultimately, how high are you willing to take that number if rates do not pull back at all in the next year's spring selling season, or how should we think about just the price versus volume interplay next year? Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah. Alan, I think, you know, the way I would address that is we really. And we tried to address it in our prepared remarks that we are seeing inelasticity in price right now. And so a lot of incremental discount above and beyond where we are at does not necessarily generate a whole bunch of incremental sales. That creates economic benefit from the incremental sales. We definitely do focus on inventory turn, and it is a critical component of how we operate. So you know, there is there is a point at which you say, we have to kind of lean in more in order to turn inventory. But we are quite a bit above those levels. So with that in mind, you know, we are really looking at if we are going to lean in with more incentives, does it truly generate incremental, sales volume? And if the answer is no, we think the much better economic outcome for our company and our shareholders is to kind of stay in the ballpark that we are right now. We certainly benefited our margins certainly benefited in the most recent quarter because we sold less spec and, generally, that spec-- final spec is where there are higher incentives. So a little bit of a double edged sword in the third quarter, You know, the less spec inventory sales helped margins, but it hurt us on the volume side. You know, as we move into the fourth quarter, we have factored in kind of some of the incremental discounts that we would expect to give on the spec inventory. And that is all baked into the margin guide that we have given for the quarter and the full year. Alan Ratner: Great. Appreciate all the detail. Thanks a lot. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Lovallo with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead. John Lovallo: Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions as well. The first 1 is, several of or 2 of your competitors had talked about a little bit of incremental pressure from the existing home market as folks were willing to be a little bit more competitive on pricing after waiting 3 or 4 years to sell. Curious if this had an impact on your move up segment in particular. And then maybe conversely, if this did in fact happen, a positive in the sense that it sort of restarts the flywheel on the housing value chain? It could actually result in, you know, a better year as we move forward perhaps? Ryan R. Marshall: John, I think there is a few anecdotal markets. And with the environment that we have been living in and we continue to live in is that pricing between new and resale is almost on top of 1 another. And in fact, in some cases, resale is more expensive than new. Which is a phenomenon that I do not think we have seen often in the you know, the 25 years that I have been in this business. So, I do not I do not know that I would necessarily 100% agree that we have seen a big unlock in resale pricing going lower I do agree with you that the resale market freeing up does restart the flywheel, and that is been a consistent comment that we have been making for the better part of a year and a half. The thing I would comment on, and Jim-- I touched on it, so did Jim, 1 of the biggest impediments that we are seeing right now is that our move up and active adult buyers need to sell their existing home, and that is tough. And part of the reason it is tough is because the prospective buyer that is going to buy their home is faced with a 7.5% interest rate, and they do not have the ability to tap into the bot down mortgage rate like we can offer. So there is you know, there is definitely some headwinds out there as it relates to resale market and the new home market that is largely centered around 7.5% interest rates, we can certainly address some of that. We are with our bought down rate, but it is, you know, it is hard to, reach over the fence and help address the challenge on the resale side. John Lovallo: Yep. that is helpful. And I am curious what you guys are experiencing on the stick and brick and labor cost side during the quarter. what is your expectation also as we move into the fourth quarter? James L. Ossowski: Yeah. We are really pleased with where we are at this is the third quarter in a row that we have, seen our sticks and bricks are down 5% on a year over year basis. So you know, as we look at it, teams are doing a great job and, you know, we would continue to expect that we can you know, bring costs down year over year on low single digits again in the fourth quarter. Okay. Fantastic. Thank you. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Kim with Evercore ISI. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Stephen Kim: Yeah. Thanks very much, guys. Appreciate all the color. Was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the SG&A. I know that, that was something that last quarter folks were kind of wondering how you were going to hit your guide for the year. I understand that, obviously, slower sales and all that certainly creates leverage issues. But your SG&A quarter actually exceeded us in actual dollars even though the revenues were a little lower. So I just wanted to know, was there anything that was unexpected to you in terms of something that actually caused you to incur greater SG&A dollars than you expected this quarter. And as you look ahead, I am curious if your increased guidance assumes maybe something different than you had thought about maybe the mix of homes, like high end homes, I am thinking out in the West or something like that, which creates deleverage issues for you in the fourth quarter. James L. Ossowski: Hey, Stephen. Great question. You know, SG&A is something we look at all the time. Really, as we look at kind of the third quarter, you are right. As absorption slows and volume has come down, we have really run into a couple things. 1, some of our communities are hanging around longer than we thought. So of those that are taking longer to close out, we have got costs on that. You nailed it at lower absorption paces, whether you are selling 3 homes a month in a community or 2 homes a month in a community, you still have to staff at the exact same way. So you know, when we factored in the guide, we looked at kinda where it is at. We looked at our volume. That we load for the course of the year, and we really do not have anything you know, noteworthy that we need to change course on. it is just more of a realization of it as communities are hanging around longer and absorption paces have come down. We have lost some leverage in the business. Stephen Kim: Yeah. If I could ask a follow-up, still staying on the SG&A. Jim, Is it we are seeing that you are performing obviously better on the active adult. But the entry level as well as the move up, maybe it is it is more challenging. I am curious, is there a mix issue as well that we should be thinking about for your SG&A? For instance, does your active adult business carry with it maybe a little bit of a higher SG&A load, partially offset by higher gross margin? Or is there anything like that? I mean, I generally think higher priced homes have less SG&A. As a percent. I mean, in other words, better SG and A leverage. But maybe if you can just speak to how mix can affect SG&A? James L. Ossowski: Yeah. I would tell you, Steven, we really do not see across our different consumer groups a different mix of SG&A. You are right. If you are at a higher ASP level, you probably get better leverage out of it. But again, when you look at the absorptions, you know, we quoted they were off 13% for the quarter. You know, again, we are still staffing the same level in our in our communities from a construction and sales standpoint. But as you lose that leverage, that is really the headwind that we are fighting against this year. Ryan R. Marshall: Steven, the only other thing, you know, with our, Del Webb communities, they tend to be bigger. They have bigger sales centers. They have more models but you do a lot more volume out of those communities as well. So to Jim's point, the way we run our businesses and the way the management teams are set up there is really no difference between a Del Webb community and a first-time Centex community in terms of the overhead dollars that are spent in order to run a community. Stephen Kim: Gotcha. Okay. Thanks very much, guys. Appreciate it. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Bouley with Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Matthew Bouley: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. So on the gross margin, the Q4 gross margin, you mentioned market conditions and kind of needing to clear out existing spec and sort of the incentives required to do that. I guess, much of that 4Q margin guide is specifically related to those 2 issues, the greater spec mix and the incentives required to clear out that. My question is really, is there an implication that if you are successful in kind of clearing out that spec in Q4, could that headwind actually lessen a little bit into 2027? And obviously, the rest is dependent on market conditions. Just trying to think about what does and does not persist as we get into 2027. Thank you. Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah. Hey, Matthew. I just, you know, maybe clarify 1 thing. there is not we do not have a spec problem. Our spec inventory is kind of right where we want it to be. And so we actually had less spec closings that came through in the third quarter than we would have expected And so we did get a benefit above the guide. Our Q4 margins you know, we have think, adjusted for the reality that we are in and we have mixed in stuff that is in backlog, stuff that was dirt sales, stuff that sold as spec in process, and then things that we would expect to sell and close during the quarter as a spec home, which typically come with lower gross margins and have higher discounts. Your question about what does that mean for next year, you know, I think it is going to kind of come down to do you have a change in mix dirt to be built and spec, we have been you know, fairly vocal and open to say, we are moving-- kind of transitioning the business back to more dirt sales. And it is-- you know, we have we have said we would hope to get it accomplished by the end of 2027. We were on track to do that. You know, markets got a little bit tougher, but we would still expect to be back to an optimal mix of 60% dirt sale, 40% spec, You know, if all things being equal, that would have a favorable outcome in terms of margin. Just because our highest margins come on, homes that we sell as dirt. If that all kind of holds together, Matthew. Matthew Bouley: Got it. No. Yeah. No. that is that is really helpful. Thank you for that, Ryan. And secondly, just on production. You know, it looked like you started more homes than you sold in Q3. Was that always the plan or just more of a function of how sort of quickly the market conditions changed? Going forward. How would you think about kind of balancing starts and sales and further reducing inventory from here? Thank you. Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah. Matthew, it is entirely a function of how quickly the market turned and specifically in September. So, you know, as you. I am sure you can appreciate we submit for permits and August for homes that are going to start in September. So kind of the ball's in motion and rolling on those things. And because there is such a leg down on sign up and sign up activity in September, You know, we are a few hundred units out of balance from kinda perfectly matched starts to sales. Got it. Well, thanks, guys. Good luck. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mike Dahl with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Mike Dahl: Morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Ryan, just sticking with the fourth quarter dynamic and the specs. Can you just help us understand within the closings guide, you mentioned you have to sell and close the number of specs to hit that. What is that ratio of specs assumed in the 4Q closings guide that still need to be sold? And how does that compare to the most recent periods? Ryan R. Marshall: So it is going to be more comparable to what we experienced in the third quarter, Mike? Which was dramatically lower than what we would experienced Q4 of last year, Q1, Q2 of this year. There was a meaningful change when rates went to 7.5 percent. And, you know, as much as anything, I think a meaningful change in how the consumer is feeling and, you know, there is so many things out there that we just have zero control over. Gasoline at 6 plus bucks a gallon, the war, confidence, etcetera. So we have we have factored in our most recent spec conversion experience into our Q4 guide. Mike Dahl: Okay. Good to hear. And then I know it is not standard practice for you guys, but just given the situation, can you help us understand just. Or maybe quantify a little more what the what the falloff in September was, so maybe order patterns? Or trends on a year on year basis by month, and then you mentioned October started off the same. So October as well. And I know it is heat at the moment. Here, but and we do not wanna. We wanna be careful about how much to extrapolate after rates have kinda gone up in a straight line. But this is kinda annual planning time for you-- yourselves and a lot of other builders. So just any early thoughts on how this influences your planning for 2027 production? Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah. Hey, Mike. We are we are probably not gonna break with trend on the month by month. Kind of commentary other than just to say that there was a noticeable change in September and it is continued into, October. We are in the middle of planning time right now. And it is. You know, the current environment has made it a more difficult planning time. It was part of the reason that in my prepared remarks, toward the end, I tried to kind of highlight how we are seeing opportunities and challenges and where we think there are some potential opportunities, and there are some. And then there is plenty of challenges out there as well. You know, the biggest thing that we are spending the most time talking about is how we are gonna think about capital allocation. You know, we have a great business. We are in the right geographies. We love the consumers that we are serving. There are so many. And we have an amazing balance sheet. There are so many good things about our business, our strategy, how we are operating Those are the things that we can control when we are saying grace over. And where we can really kind of position ourselves for continued success is to be thoughtful and smart about land spend and capital allocation. You know, I think we have been super clear. We are running this business for the long term. Not for this quarter or even next quarter. So, you know, that is that is how we are spending most of the time thinking about our planning process is really all around capital allocation. Okay. Thanks, Ryan. Operator: The next question comes from the line of Sam Reid with Wells Fargo. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Sam Reid: Thanks, everyone. Wanted to touch on incentive loads a little bit in third quarter. It looks like they were sort of flattish sequentially versus Q2. But can we perhaps isolate any changes in the composition of those incentive loads by buyer cohort Mike, I just wanna better understand what their sequential step up in incentive loads on spec. And, conversely, you know, or any changes to incentive loads across move up. And then you have mentioned in the past that you have been doing more build to order closings with rate buy downs slash forward commitments. Any sense of the attach rate there? James L. Ossowski: Sure. I would tell you during the quarter, the 10.4%, which was flat sequentially with Q2, We really did not see any kind of a change in that dynamic amongst the consumer groups or even within the mixture of it. You know, it is split between financing incentives as well as discounts on for example, spec homes that we have. On the build order, we are really happy with how we have been able to use the financing incentives on that today. About 40% of you know, the financing incentives and forward commitments we do are for build to order homes. So as Ryan's touched on before, those are higher margin homes. And so we like the opportunity to use those as we start to kinda build our backlog for Q4 and, you know, now it is still even going into 2027. Sam Reid: that is helpful. And then let's maybe switch gears and talk SG&A for a second. I wanted to drill down a little bit there. Just talk through how much of the SG and A, you know, perhaps relative to expectations, above expectations, I should say, was a function of higher third party broker commissions. We have heard anecdotally from some of our contacts that they have been stepping up across many markets. So curious, you know, whether you are embedding call it, higher broker attach rate and or higher broker commission into your fourth quarter, implied SG and A guide as well. Thanks. Ryan R. Marshall: Yes. Sam, I would tell you there is there is not much in our SG&A that is different as a result of broker rate or attachment. The attachment rate has been running higher for probably the better part of 18 months because of lack of resale activity. So the brokers that are out there with buyers you know, the good news is more of them are coming into our sales centers, which means our attachment rate ticks up slightly, but that is about it. You know, we do in certain cases, offer broker incentives, but we really try to manage that. I would rather see if, you know, there is incentives that need to be given. We would rather see those go to the buyer. Sam Reid: that is helpful, guys. Appreciate. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Rehaut. With Melius. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Michael Rehaut: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Wanted to first focus on morning. Wanted to first focus on supply if we can just dial into that a little bit more and specifically thinking about the secondary market and if there are any markets that kind of stand out to you as being more challenging from a supply standpoint, you know, last month, a competitor highlighted Florida and Texas. And I am just curious if you are seeing any markets that really stand out on that level in terms of the existing, you know, for sale market that maybe have added a little bit of pressure to the broader landscape? Ryan R. Marshall: Hey, Mike. We would highlight Texas Those. It really all 4 markets, I think, have seen an uptick in available inventory, and it is you know, all those. The entire state has been more difficult for some time. You know, we have seen flashes of brilliance in Dallas in Houston, but you know, Texas continues to be a tougher operating environment. Florida, where we are positioned the consumers that we are serving, we are not we are not seeing inventory pressure in Florida. Michael Rehaut: Okay. Great. No. Thanks for that. And maybe just shifting gears a little bit, to the balance sheet and the M&A landscape, you know, history maker being acquired this past quarter. You know, a pretty good sized, regional player in Texas. Just wanted your thoughts in terms of know, in this type of backdrop, I am sure there are I would assume, some, you know, decent sized regional players that are perhaps seeing some levels of stress in the current market backdrop? You have a fantastic balance sheet. And just wanted to know if you are you know, from your perspective, if you are seeing maybe an increase in opportunities or perhaps sellers are taking a step back because they do not wanna sell it in this type of market. Any thoughts around kind of the opportunity set if it is changed and how you are thinking about you know, your approach to the market relative to past years? Ryan R. Marshall: Mike, we do have a phenomenal balance sheet, and, you know, it is it is 1 of the things that I think is arguably our. Will probably prove to be 1 of our biggest advantages in a more difficult operating environment. In terms of our approach to kind of M&A, etcetera, part of the reason we have such a great balance sheet is because we avoided chasing kind of unnecessary or inappropriate opportunities. And, we will we will stick to that kinda game plan. We do look at a lot of things. And we are just. We are very choosy and as. And I will not spend a ton of time going through it today. We look at M&A opportunities as really more allocation of capital into land. And so we think hard about the consumer groups, that an m and a opportunity will bring to us. We think hard about the markets that it will give us access to. And if. As we go through evaluation process, we do not think that it helps us in terms of our long term strategy. We are not interested in acquiring a competitor just for the sake of saying we got bigger. Because that is that is not where we think value is created. So we certainly got this. The financial strength and financial capability to execute. But we are gonna be super disciplined that if we are pursuing an opportunity, it truly furthers, you know, further and gives us gains against our strategic priorities. Great. Thank you. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Anthony Pettinari: Good morning. I was wondering how cycle times trended in 3Q and if there is any scope for improvement there. And just more generally, as you think about levers you can pull to protect margins and returns in a softer market, Is there anything worth mentioning in terms of home format or home size or anything else, you know, we should keep in mind. Ryan R. Marshall: Hey, Anthony. Thanks for the question. And our procurement teams just did a phenomenal job. We have maintained kind of our price per price per foot in the current environment. And I think we have done just a wonderful job with that. There is pressure out there on a couple of fronts, and to your cycle time we went below 100 days for the first time since pre COVID. And that includes all of the big 4 and 5 story multifamily buildings that we do or incorporated in that 99 days. So I think I think our construction teams have done an amazing job managing production. Our procurement teams have got. Done a great job with cost. The headwinds that are out there, the current immigration enforcement, which I think has been widely reported on, that is having disruption in the broad labor market. And so, you know, we are we are certainly navigating some cycle time pressures as a result of kinda what is happening more broadly. With the with the labor pool. And then, in terms of, you know, are there cost opportunities, we are always looking for them. But in an inflationary environment, which we seem to clearly be back in, you know, I think it will it will get harder and harder. Especially with kind of fuel where it is and you know, nothing gets to our job sites without coming on a truck. You know, those cost pressures, think, are real. Anthony Pettinari: Okay. That. that is very helpful. And then you spoke to weakness in Texas. I think earlier, you also mentioned the West. Are you seeing anything specific to those markets around local economies or price points or mix or how white collar workers are doing? Anything that you would call out the Western Region? Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah. The West the West has been tough for a long time. We are probably on 2, 2.5 years of challenges in the West, and you know, they are they are really good communities. They are nice places to live. They are thriving economies. I do not think there is anything that is broken. The biggest thing that I would call out is just affordability. it is it is really expensive in a lot of the Western markets that we operate in, particularly the coastal markets. So you know, they will. They are they are good places where jobs are being created and people wanna live there. We are pretty confident that you know, this too will turn, and they will come back into being kinda favorable places to do business. But we are in, you know, we are in a little of a barrel right now in the West. Okay. that is helpful. I will turn it over. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ralph Jadrasich with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Rafe Jadrosich: Hi. Good morning. it is Rafe Jadrosich. Thanks for taking my question. First, on the Stick and Brick side, think you commented on the year over year trend that you are still expecting down single digit in the fourth quarter. How do we think about it sequentially? Is that flattening out? Are you starting to see any inflation there? James L. Ossowski: Yeah. Really, the only thing that I would say in the fourth quarter, and we had called it out earlier in the year, was you know, lumber started to move up earlier in the year, which we said would be a little bit of a headwind in the fourth quarter. Lumber has started to stabilize though, but really that is that is it. Otherwise, I would tell you the teams continue to do a good job, and I would tell you Q4 should know, look pretty similar to where Q3 is. Thank you. that is helpful. Rafe Jadrosich: And then if sort of the housing macro backdrop stays similar here kinda into 2027, like, would you expect raw land prices to start to come down? You talked about walking away for some lots. Mike, how do you think about the land price environment from here? Ryan R. Marshall: Yeah, Rafe Jadrosich. It. I think it really depends on where the land is located. From a city MSA standpoint, but also the specific city block that land is located in. So there is some land that it continues to accelerate in price, it is super competitive. And, you know, there is there is there is no decreases there. Some of your b and c locations, we are certainly seeing kind of pricing there change. You know, we are we are. We all. Just as a matter of practice, good market, bad market, we always re underwrite land kinda multiple times as we go through kind of the entitlement process before we ultimately buy it. So you know, probably the biggest benefit that we have seen is the acceleration of land prices. The rate of acceleration has slowed. Significantly But I do not I do not know that we are quite into a place where I can tell you that land has gone on 30% off, end-of-season clearance we are probably not quite there yet. Thank you. that is helpful. Operator: We will take our final question from Susan Maklari from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Susan Maklari: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to talk a bit about at the higher end, once people do start to transact, are you seeing any change in the upgrades or the features that they are opting to put in the homes? Are they still spending at the same level once they do decide to make that decision? Ryan R. Marshall: Sue, they are. You know, it is a buyer that is you know, assuming they are making the decision to move forward. They are they are better prepared. They have got equity from a prior sale. Their personal balance sheets are stronger. And we are seeing little change in terms of how they are behaving relative to kind of prior quarters. James L. Ossowski: Yeah. I mean, for reference, Susan, in the in the quarter, and lot premiums were $117 thousand per lot. that is up from last year and from the prior quarter. Little bit of that is mixed because we had less spec sales, but to Ryan's point, if people are committed to coming in and closing on the home, taking the opportunity to fix things that they want. Susan Maklari: Okay. that is helpful. And then maybe just building on that, are you seeing that there is more cash sales that are coming through as well? In this market? Ryan R. Marshall: No. I think our mix of cash buyers by brand is pretty consistent with what we have historically seen. So as a percentage, because we had less first-time, you know, maybe it ticked up a little bit overall, but you know, the way we do, and I think you should look at it, is by buyer type, and it is unchanged. Yes. Susan Maklari: Okay. Alright. Thank you. Good luck with the quarter. Ryan R. Marshall: Thank you. Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Jim Zumar for closing remarks. James Zeumer: Appreciate everybody's time this morning. We are certainly available if you have questions over the course of the day. Otherwise, we will look forward to talking to you in a quarter. Thanks, everybody. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in PulteGroup, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and PulteGroup wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $350,756!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,363,905!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 922% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 213% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of October 22, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Pulte (PHM) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

- Interested in PulteGroup, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. - Demand weakened significantly in Q3 as higher mortgage rates and declining consumer confidence reduced community traffic by 14% year over year. Home closings fell 9% to 6,876, while net new orders declined 6% to 6,208. - First-time and move-up buyers were hit hardest, with orders down 9% and 14%, respectively, while active-adult orders rose 11%. Regional conditions were stronger in Florida and parts of the Midwest but weaker in the Southeast, West and Texas. - PulteGroup maintained its full-year gross-margin outlook at 24.5%–25.0% and is controlling inventory and land exposure, including walking away from 8,000 optioned lots. The company returned nearly $400 million to shareholders during the quarter and ended with $1.4 billion in cash and net debt-to-capital of 3%. - Lennar's Earnings Miss May Be Sending a Bigger Warning About U.S. Housing PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM) reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $476 million, or $2.53 per share, as higher mortgage rates and weaker consumer confidence reduced buyer traffic and home closings. The homebuilder said it maintained relatively stable conversion rates among prospective buyers who visited its communities, but fewer consumers began the home-search process during the quarter. Third-quarter home sale revenue fell 9% from a year earlier to $3.9 billion, driven by a 9% decline in closings to 6,876 homes. Net new orders totaled 6,208 homes, down 6% year over year, as a 13% decline in absorption pace more than offset a 7% increase in average community count. → Aurora Rejects Curaleaf's Higher Bid, But the Takeover Fight Isn't Over - Homebuilders Are Down for the Year, Is Wall Street in Denial? President and CEO Ryan Marshall said the business experienced a notable slowdown in demand as interest rates increased through the quarter, particularly in September. Traffic to PulteGroup communities declined 14% from the prior year and 11% sequentially from the second quarter. "What changed in the quarter, and most notably in September, is that the big move higher in interest rates, along with inflation, global tensions, and waning confidence, reached the point where more consumers simply put their search on pause," Marshall said. → Could Quantinuum's Breakthrough Make Its Sell-Off a Bargain? - These 3 GARP Stocks Show Why Growth and Value Do Not Have to Clash PulteGroup said first-time buyers were the most affected by higher rates, as that group generally requires mortgage financing. Net new orders from first-time buyers declined 9% year over year, while move-up buyer orders fell 14%. Active-adult orders increased 11%, supported by growth in the company's community count serving that customer base. The company's third-quarter cancellation rate was 10% of beginning backlog, improving from 12% in the prior-year period and declining 50 basis points from the second quarter. Chief Financial Officer Jim Ossowski said the stable cancellation level indicates that customers already under contract remain committed to closing. → IonQ's Bold Expansion Could Leave Shareholders Paying the Price PulteGroup ended the quarter with backlog of 10,298 homes valued at $6.4 billion, compared with 9,888 homes valued at $6.2 billion a year earlier. Its absorption pace was 1.9 homes per month, down from 2.2 homes per month in the third quarter of 2025. Marshall said conditions remained stronger in Florida and selected Midwest markets, helping offset softer demand in the Southeast and ongoing weakness in Western markets. He also cited Texas as a more difficult environment, with increased available inventory across the state's major markets. The company reported a home sale gross margin of 24.8%, down 140 basis points from a year earlier and 20 basis points from the prior quarter. The result included incentives equal to 10.4% of home sales revenue, compared with 8.9% in the prior-year quarter, as well as $26 million in land impairment charges. Construction costs helped moderate margin pressure. PulteGroup's build costs were $75 per square foot, down 5% from a year earlier and unchanged from the second quarter. Ossowski said the company expects build costs to decline by low single digits year over year in the fourth quarter. For the fourth quarter, PulteGroup expects gross margins of 24.0% to 24.5% as it factors in the expected mix of homes closing and incentives associated with selling spec homes. The company maintained its full-year gross-margin forecast of 24.5% to 25.0%. Marshall said the company is emphasizing returns rather than pursuing sales volumes through deeper price cuts. "Sometimes lowering price doesn't generate incremental sales," he said, adding that additional discounts can reduce profitability across all home sales without creating sufficient incremental demand. PulteGroup now expects to close between 7,000 and 7,500 homes in the fourth quarter and between 27,000 and 27,500 homes for full-year 2026. It maintained guidance for average selling prices of $550,000 to $560,000 in the fourth quarter and for the full year. At quarter-end, the company had 14,599 homes under construction, including 6,627 spec homes. Total spec inventory was down 10% year over year, while finished spec homes declined 16% to 1,696, or an average of 1.6 per community. Ossowski said the company started slightly more than 6,500 homes during the third quarter, compared with sales of about 6,200 homes, reflecting how quickly demand weakened in September after permits and production plans had already been set. "We continue to tightly control our starts pace to align production with changing demand dynamics," Ossowski said. Full-year SG&A expense is now expected to be 10.3% to 10.5% of home sale revenues, reflecting lower expected closings and less operating leverage as communities take longer to close out. During the third quarter, PulteGroup invested $1.3 billion in land acquisition and development, bringing year-to-date spending to $4 billion. The company expects to invest approximately $5.3 billion in land during 2026, though Marshall said it is prepared to reduce land spending in 2027 if market conditions warrant. The company ended the quarter with approximately 224,000 lots under control, down 16,000 from a year earlier. It walked away from approximately 8,000 lots previously held under option during the quarter after determining those transactions no longer met risk-adjusted return thresholds. PulteGroup repurchased 2.8 million shares for $350 million in the quarter and returned nearly $400 million to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. It ended the period with $1.4 billion in cash and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 3%. Marshall said the company's geographic diversity, land pipeline and balance sheet provide flexibility to manage a potentially prolonged period of elevated mortgage rates while continuing to evaluate market opportunities. PulteGroup, Inc is a major U.S. homebuilding company that designs, builds and sells homes for a range of buyers, including first-time, move-up and active-adult customers. Its operations include land acquisition and development, home construction, sales and marketing, and customer service. The company markets homes under several well-known brands, including Pulte, Centex, Del Webb, DiVosta and American West. Through these brands, PulteGroup offers a variety of single-family home designs and communities, with products tailored to different price points, lifestyles and stages of homeownership. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "What PulteGroup (PHM) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for October 2026.

PulteGroup (PHM) came out with quarterly earnings of $2.53 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.63 per share. This compares to earnings of $2.96 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -3.80%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this homebuilder would post earnings of $2.38 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.48, delivering a surprise of +4.2%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times. PulteGroup, which belongs to the Zacks Building Products - Home Builders industry, posted revenues of $3.97 billion for the quarter ended September 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.85%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $4.4 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. PulteGroup shares have lost about 3.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 13.3%. While PulteGroup has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for PulteGroup was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $3.19 on $4.79 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $10.06 on $16.31 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Building Products - Home Builders is currently in the bottom 5% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Century Communities (CCS), another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2026. The results are expected to be released on October 28. This single-family homebuilder is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.22 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -19.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Century Communities' revenues are expected to be $962 million, down 1.9% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PulteGroup, Inc. (PHM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Century Communities, Inc. (CCS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research