Lennar downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Barclays downgraded Lennar (LEN) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $181, down from $210. As homebuilding’s “utopia looks increasingly out of reach,” Barclays no longer expects builders to :defy gravity,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm thinks building products and distributors will outperform with end markets “near trough.” It moved to the sidelines on homebuilder stocks entering 2025, but expects building products and distributors to outperform homebuilders and the market. For builders, following two years of relative stock outperformance and an “unprecedented” market recovery that has occurred in spite of high rates and challenged affordability, the new construction market “has now hit a ceiling,” contends Barclays.