Meritage Homes Corp Profits Up, Gross Margin Down: Guess What Mister Market Does?

The southeastern U.S. is a big growth market for Meritage. Image source: Meritage Homes.

WhenMeritage Homes Corp(NYSE: MTH) reported second quarter results on July 28, there was a lot to like. The homebuilder reported it closed on 1,950 new homes in the quarter -- a huge 25% jump from last year -- and that home closing revenue was up 35% to $796 million following a 7% increase in the average selling price.

Unfortunately, a 200 basis point drop in gross margin, falling to 17.3% from 19.3% last year, combined with statements from management that it would take some time for margins to recover, left the market wanting. As of this writing, Meritage shares have fallen more than 5% since the earnings release was issued.

So what's the takeaway? Let's dig into the earnings release and conference call with management and see what we can learn.

More From Fool.com

Warren Buffett Tells You How to Turn $40 Into $10 Million

LeBron James: The Next Warren Buffett?

Social Security: 3 Things to Know Before Taking Benefits Early

3 Social Security Secrets You Probably Don't Know

The numbers

Revenue and net income in millions. Data source: Meritage Homes.

How Meritage delivered in the quarter

It's not often that a company can report such a big drop in gross margin yet still deliver earnings growth that exceeds revenue growth. Here's how Meritage Homes did just that in the quarter:

• Commissions were up 25% but fell 50 basis points as a percent of total closing revenue.
• General & administrative expenses were up 5% but down 100 basis points as a percent of total closing revenue.
• Interest expense fell 64% and 60 basis points as a percent of total revenue.
• Overall, spending on these three categories only increased 12.2%, while home closing revenue increased 35%. In short, lower expenses (as a percent of revenue) more than made up for the drop in gross margin.

Meritage also delivered 4% growth in backlog units to 3,314. This was a nice sequential increase from 3,191 reported in the first quarterearnings. Factoring in the 4% increase in average selling price for its backlog, backlog revenue value increased 8% from last year. On a regional basis, the eastern region is driving a lot of the growth, particularly in relatively new markets in Georgia and Tennessee. The east region backlog value increased 24%, compared to a 3% increase in the central region and a 1% increase in the west region.

The company also invested more money in real estate in the quarter, spending $254 million, up from $159 million in last year's quarter. It finished the quarter with $2.3 billion in real estate inventory, versus $2 billion one year ago. This left the company with more lots than it held a year ago, which is up from the end of 2015.

Back to margins

Here's a look at how the company delivered by region, compared to one year ago:

Image source: Meritage Homes.

There are several factors to which management pointed that have driven gross margin down over the past year, including higher land costs for more recent land purchases, higher labor costs that have plagued the housing industry in general as new home construction has recovered, and to some extent, higher materials costs. But CEO Steve Hilton is adamant that he and his management team can drive margins back up -- even if they aren't sure how long it's going to take to do it. Here's what he said during the earnings call, in response to an analyst question:

Because of management's uncertainty when the company's gross margin percent will recover, it did reduce full-year guidance for gross margin to between 17.5% and 18%. But at the same time, the company expects its recent operating leverage improvements to continue driving strong earnings growth.

Looking ahead

Meritage Homes is on track to having one of its most profitable years in the past decade despite continued pressure on gross margin from a number of factors. And while it may take time for management to get a handle on the key cost drivers that are impacting margins and start chipping away at them, Hilton and his team have decades of experience in the homebuilding business and a history of delivering results. In other words, there's probably a good chance that they can deliver on better margins in due time.

For now, Meritage is doing a solid job managing its other expenses and driving profitable growth in a strong market for new homes. If management can indeed find a way to bring margins back to historical levels, the future could be very bright for Meritage Homes and its investors.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Jason Hall owns shares of Meritage Homes. The Motley Fool recommends Meritage Homes. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.