Lennar’s 3Q Profit Jumps 33% On Robust Housing Demand

Lennar Corp.’s 3Q earnings surged 33% to $2.12 per share year-on-year mainly driven by strong housing demand due to low mortgage rates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the housing market is also benefiting from continued short supply of new and existing homes. The homebuilder’s quarterly earnings came way ahead of the consensus estimate of $1.55 per share.

Despite upbeat 3Q results, Lennar’s (LEN) shares fell 4% in the extended trading session. 3Q revenues rose marginally to $5.87 billion from $5.86 in the year-ago quarter but beat Street estimates of $5.48 billion. Key revenue metrics – deliveries, new orders, and order backlog – grew 2%, 16%, and 4%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis.

The company expects booking of new orders between 13,800 and 14,300 units in 4Q. It projects to deliver 15,500-16,000 units in the current quarter. (See LEN stock analysis on TipRanks).

Following the quarterly performance, Barclays analyst Matthew Bouley raised the stock’s price target to $84 (6.3% upside potential) from $70 and reiterated a Buy rating saying that that the underlying housing trend has improved much more than what he had anticipated earlier.

Currently, the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook on the stock. The Moderate Buy analyst consensus is based on 8 Buys and 6 Holds. Given the year-to-date share rally of 41.6%, the average price target of $77.32 implies downside potential of about 2.1% to current levels.