Homebuilder Duo About To Report Earnings, Be Ready

• Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. HOV will be reporting its fourth quarter financial results on December 4.
• Toll Brothers Inc TOL is scheduled to announce its earnings on December 8.
• Ahead of the earnings calls, MKM analyst Megan McGrath shared a preview of the homebuilders’ results.

According to a report issued Tuesday, analysts at MKM expect the focus for Hovnanian Enterprises to continue to be on the company’s ability to make improvements to profitability while shielding its cash balance.

For Toll Brothers, which preannounced some of its fourth quarter results a few weeks ago, expectations point towards a focus on profitability metrics and guidance for 2016.

Related Link: The Bullish Research Boosting Toll Brothers Stock

Having said this, the experts pointed out that Toll remains one of MKM’s top picks into 2016, reiterating a Buy rating and $45 price target. On the other hand, the firm rated Hovnanian a Neutral, fixing a $2.25 price target for the stock.

For Hovnanian, MKM is modeling earnings of $0.10 per share, in line with consensus. The reiteration of a Neutral rating is based on the likely continuation of liquidity concerns in the near-term.

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On the other hand, the experts believe Toll Brothers “will be able to grow its gross margin while other homebuilders could struggle with improving profitability.” Thus, the firm is forecasting earnings of $0.85 per share (slightly above consensus) for the forth quarter.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.