🏠📉🧭 Lennar Q3: Orders Up, Margins Down, Path Ahead 🧭📉🏠

$Lennar(LEN)$ $D.R. Horton(DHI)$ $PulteGroup(PHM)$ Lennar ($LEN) delivered Q3 results that showed strength in demand but continued erosion in profitability. Orders surged, yet the path to earnings power looks increasingly fragile.

📊 Core Results

• Adj. EPS: $2.00 (vs $2.16 est., miss 7%) 🔴

• Revenue: $8.81B (vs $8.76B est., beat 1%) 🟢

• Net Income: $591M, down 49% YoY

• New Orders: 23,004 (+12% YoY, beat high end guidance) 🟢

• Deliveries: 21,584 (missed guidance) 🔴

• Gross Margin: 17.5% (down 500 bps YoY, missed 18% guide) 🔴

Headline EPS of $2.29 included $99M mark-to-market tech gains. Core EPS of $2.00 was at the floor of guidance.

🟢 Bullish Takeaways

• Order Momentum: Incentive-driven demand boosted orders, capturing share in a soft market.

• Buybacks: $507M repurchased this quarter underscores management’s conviction.

• Balance Sheet Flexibility: Homebuilding debt-to-capital ratio at 13.5% with 98% of lots controlled.

🔴 Bearish Pressures

• Severe Margin Compression: Gross margin collapsed from 22.5% to 17.5%. Q4 guide at ~17.5% signals no near-term recovery.

• Low-Quality EPS Beat: Core EPS was the bare minimum, headline supported by volatile tech gains.

• Operating Leverage Gone: SG&A rose to 8.2% from 6.7%, reflecting cost deleverage.

🟡 Themes & Management Signals

• Volume Over Profitability: ASP down 9%, cycle time improved to 126 days, but margins crushed.

• Moderating Volumes Ahead: Q4 orders guided at 20k–21k vs 23k in Q3.

• Tech Spend Elevated: Ongoing SG&A pressure from:

• Lennar Machine (Salesforce + AI automation with McKinsey)

• Land Management System (co-built with Palantir)

• ERP Overhaul (JD Edwards E1)

• Margin Roadmap: New land deals underwritten to ~20% GM vs current 17.5% weighed down by older land.

• Regional Weakness: Seattle, Portland, Bay Area, Sacramento, Phoenix, Vegas, Colorado, Raleigh, Atlanta, Jacksonville.

• Buyer Profile Shift: FHA/VA loans 48% of originations (vs 40% prior year).

📉 Stock Performance Context

• Post-Earnings Pattern: $LEN has traded lower after earnings eight straight quarters (average -5% next day).

• Technical Setup:

• Daily: $132.87 testing EMA cluster near $134–$135.

• 4H: Breakdown below $133–134 support, eyeing $128.

• Weekly: Bounce from $110 July lows, stalled under resistance near $135.

• Valuation Lens:

• Avg PT: $127.79 (-3.8% downside).

• Range: $95 to $161.

• Analyst stance: 75% Hold, 25% Buy/Strong Buy.

🧮 Probability-Weighted Frameworks

1. 🔴 Drift-Lower Base Case; 45%

Path: $131.5 → $129 → $127.8, stretch $125.

Trigger: Rejection at $134–$135, sustained closes < $133.

Catalysts: Flat margins, soft order commentary, SG&A leverage absent.

Invalidation: Decisive reclaim > $136 on volume.

2. 🟡 Range-Rebuild Consolidation; 35%

Path: $129–$136 chop, fades at $137–$138.

Trigger: Hammer or higher low above $129.

Catalysts: Seasonal closings, cycle time efficiency, SG&A ticks lower.

Invalidation: Daily close < $128 not reclaimed.

3. 🟢 Relief-Rally Squeeze; 20%

Path: $137.5 → $141–$144.

Trigger: Gap-down fill, strong close > $136.

Catalysts: Peer strength, early Q4 order traction, faster land rotation.

Invalidation: Loss of $133 after breakout.

📌 Key Levels

• Resistance: $136, $137.5, $141–$144.

• Support: $131.5, $129, $127.8, $125.

• Bull/Bear Line: $136.

⚖️ The Take

Lennar is gaining share, but the cost to profitability is steep. The pivot to moderating volume shows management recognizes the limits of incentives. Until land portfolio rotation and tech leverage deliver, margins remain stuck.

👉❓Does Lennar’s promise of future margin recovery through new land underwriting and tech systems outweigh the near-term pain of soft affordability and elevated SG&A?

This is less about guessing the print and more about mapping the tape’s most probable paths.

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# 💰Stocks to watch today?(18 Dec)

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  • Kiwi Tigress
    ·09-20
    TOP
    🤯That $LEN setup is wild, eight straight selloffs after earnings and you’ve still got bulls chasing volume with crushed margins, I’m honestly hyped to see if it breaks $136 or slides back to $129, feels like one of those moments the whole housing tape’s watching fr
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    • Barcode
      Grateful for your engagement KT, dialogue always deepens the signal.
      09-20
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  • Tui Jude
    ·09-20
    TOP
    🏠I liked how you tied the Palantir partnership into the land system because that’s where future leverage comes from, it’s similar to how PHM integrated tech to streamline cycles but the difference is Lennar’s still burning margins at 17.5% while guiding flat into Q4.
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    • Barcode
      I’m grateful you took a moment to go through my post TJ. The more we can exchange thoughtful ideas, the better we can navigate both the opportunities and the risks in markets like these.
      09-20
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  • 📉I’m looking at your Lennar breakdown and the 500 bps margin hit really stands out, it reminds me of when DHI had to discount heavily to keep volume up and the stock couldn’t hold its levels, the $136 line you flagged feels like the right pivot point here.
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    • Barcode
      I value your read CCW, sharper cycles always come from sharper dialogue.
      09-20
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  • Avoid now; wait for $127 (avg PT) to enter with better risk-reward.
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    • Barcode
      I appreciate you reading my article Phyllis Strachey. Insights are always stronger when they’re part of a broader conversation, and your time spent here adds value to that dialogue.
      09-20
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  • Hen Solo
    ·09-20
    TOP
    📊The shift to 48% FHA and VA loans is a seismic affordability signal, it mirrors the structural buyer mix change we saw with PHM before its last breakout, and when you tie that to SG&A stuck above 8% it shows how precise your call is, genuinely another masterclass article that sets the bar!
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    • Barcode
      Thanks HS, thoughtful time spent here strengthens conviction.
      09-20
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  • Ron Anne
    ·09-19
    TOP
    8 straight post-earnings drops—will $LEN break the streak this time?
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    • Barcode
      Thanks for your perspective Ron Anne, it sharpens how we all view momentum.
      09-20
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  • Megan Barnard
    ·09-19
    TOP
    Buy DHI over LEN; its margins held up better, no?
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    • Barcode
      Appreciate your engagement Megan Barnard, stronger trends emerge from broader dialogue.
      09-20
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  • Mortimer Arthur
    ·09-20
    TOP
    bullish. interest rates below 6% ceo said company will thrive

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    • Barcode
      I appreciate you reading my post MA, it’s sharp minds like yours that keep me locked in.
      09-20
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  • Queengirlypops
    ·09-20
    TOP
    ✍️👩‍💻 ngl the way you laid out the drift lower path vs the squeeze path makes it so easy to vibe with, $LEN at $132 just looks trapped, if it pops $136 then yeah ride that momentum but until then the 127s magnet you dropped feels mad real, honestly another masterclass article bc 💥
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  • Merle Ted
    ·09-20
    Current average target by analysts is $125.43 but after the bad report for Q3 and also weak outlook the target will be lowered.

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  • cozyzi
    ·09-19
    Great insights! Always learning from you! [Wow]
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  • Interesting indeed
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  • 🙏
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