NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of PulteGroup are down by 2.40% to $21.93 in early afternoon trading on Thursday, after JPMorgan downgraded the homebuilder to "underweight" from "neutral" this morning. The firm believes that PulteGroup is likely to underperform its peers, CNBC.com reports. JPMorgan also commented on the homebuilder sector saying "Amid our still constructive longer term view of the sector and the housing recovery, we believe the builders are particularly vulnerable to a pullback over the next 3-6 months following their strong year-to-date performance, and hence recommend taking some profits in the sector ahead of our outlook for some weakness in the group following 1Q earnings, which we expect to persist into the summer months." The firm maintained its $21 price target on PulteGroup stock. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates PULTEGROUP INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate PULTEGROUP INC (PHM) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 0.3%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 10.1%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share. The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.41, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. The stock has risen over the past year as investors have generally rewarded the company for its earnings growth and other positive factors like the ones we have cited in this report. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year. PULTEGROUP INC's earnings per share improvement from the most recent quarter was slightly positive. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, PULTEGROUP INC reported lower earnings of $1.25 versus $6.74 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.33 versus $1.25). The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the Household Durables industry average, but is less than that of the S&P 500. The net income has decreased by 1.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $220.05 million to $217.09 million. You can view the full analysis from the report here: PHM Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
Click to view a price quote on PHM. Click to research the Materials & Construction industry.
from Latest TSC Headlines http://ift.tt/1H88gUE
No comments:
Post a Comment