Yahoo Finance Bull of the Day: KB Home (KBH)
KB Home (KBH) is riding the wave of strong housing demand in 2017. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is expected to see double digit earnings growth in 2017 as American rush back into home buying.
KB Home is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States with developments across the country. It is headquartered in Los Angeles.
Another Beat in the First Quarter
On March 23, KB Home reported its fiscal first quarter results and beat the Zacks Consensus by a penny. It reported $0.15 versus the consensus of $0.14.
It was the fifth earnings beat in a row.
Revenue jumped 21% to $818.6 million as deliveries rose 14% to 2224 homes. It saw an increase in deliveries in all four of its regions.
Average selling price continues to rise, jumping by 6% to $364,600.
All of its metrics were strong in the quarter. Net orders rose 14% to 2580 and net order value grew 32% to $1.1 billion.
The West Coast region, which is in the company's own backyard, remained hot, as net orders rose 49% and the average selling price of those orders was up 16%.
The backlog rose 11% to 4,776 as its value grew 25% to $1.79 billion. That was the company's highest first quarter backlog value since 2007, which was the height of the housing bubble.
The average selling price of homes in the backlog rose 12%.
This is one of the best quarters the company has had in the last few years and it looks like it should continue for the rest of this year.
Analysts Bullish Too
The analysts liked what they heard as they've been raising full year estimates since the earnings report.
The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate has jumped to $1.60 from $1.54 in the last 30 days with an analyst even raising just this week, presumably after bullish reports by several of KB Home's competitors.
That is earnings growth of 43.2% as the company earned just $1.12 last year.
Sales are also expected to rise 18.8% this year.
Shares Finally on the Move Higher
Since being the hottest industry in the market in 2012, homebuilder stocks have gone nowhere until now.
Shares have finally broken out of its recent range. They're now hitting 3-year highs.
Because those earnings estimates keep moving higher, shares are also cheap. They trade with a forward P/E of just 12.9.
For investors looking for a way to play the hot housing market, KB Home is one to keep on the short list.
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