Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Meritage Homes commenced the year with a remarkable first quarter in 2024, demonstrating both strong execution and a robust demand environment, yet facing challenges due to the unpredictability of interest rates and increased land and material costs.</li><li>On the performance front, Meritage Homes reported substantial gains, with first-quarter sales orders hitting a record 3,991 homes, reflecting a 14% year-over-year increase.</li><li>This noteworthy jump was primarily driven by healthy spring sales, an 8% cancellation rate, and robust demand across all regions, particularly from entry-level homebuyers who make up more than 90% of the order volume.</li></ul>

Meritage Homes commenced the year with a remarkable first quarter in 2024, demonstrating both strong execution and a robust demand environment, yet facing challenges due to the unpredictability of interest rates and increased land and material costs.On the performance front, Meritage Homes reported substantial gains, with first-quarter sales orders hitting a record 3,991 homes, reflecting a 14% year-over-year increase.This noteworthy jump was primarily driven by healthy spring sales, an 8% cancellation rate, and robust demand across all regions, particularly from entry-level homebuyers who make up more than 90% of the order volume.

Meritage Homes Corporation: A Tale Of Community Expansion and Market Share Growth! - Major Drivers

<ul>
<li>This is our first report on Meritage Homes Corp.</li>
<li>The company's Q4 2023 sales orders increased 60% year on year, with strong home buying demand and a slight pullback in interest rates.</li>
<li>The company achieved a record backlog conversion of 110%, leading to home closing revenue of $1.6 billion.</li>
</ul>


This is our first report on Meritage Homes Corp.
The company's Q4 2023 sales orders increased 60% year on year, with strong home buying demand and a slight pullback in interest rates.
The company achieved a record backlog conversion of 110%, leading to home closing revenue of $1.6 billion.


Meritage Homes Corporation: These Are The 3 Biggest Growth Catalysts For The Company!

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We still recommend a tactical overweight to defensives (Staples, Utilities, Healthcare, and gold miners) as the SPX tests our 4165-4200 resistance range, and also resistance from the prior 1.5-month uptrend.</li>
<li>As we await Wednesdays FOMC announcement, the DJIA and Nasdaq Composite are testing 1-year resistances at 34,280 and 12,300, the DXY appears to be inflecting higher, and breadth remains weak.</li>
<li>While we still see a reach to 4300-4325 as possible, we believe playing for more upside is akin to picking up pennies in front of a steamroller.</li>
</ul>


We still recommend a tactical overweight to defensives (Staples, Utilities, Healthcare, and gold miners) as the SPX tests our 4165-4200 resistance range, and also resistance from the prior 1.5-month uptrend.
As we await Wednesdays FOMC announcement, the DJIA and Nasdaq Composite are testing 1-year resistances at 34,280 and 12,300, the DXY appears to be inflecting higher, and breadth remains weak.
While we still see a reach to 4300-4325 as possible, we believe playing for more upside is akin to picking up pennies in front of a steamroller.


S&P 500 Testing 4165-4200, DJIA Testing 34,280, Nasdaq Composite Testing 12,300; Stay Defensive

US Treasury (10 Yr Generic) / Technical Analysis

<p>Considering the absence of breakdowns for the major indexes and for individual Sectors, along with the Fed covering investors’ backs, we continue to have a bullish outlook and we believe that the path of least resistance remains higher. In this report we outline our bullish case and highlight actionable opportunities across all 12 sectors.</p>

Considering the absence of breakdowns for the major indexes and for individual Sectors, along with the Fed covering investors’ backs, we continue to have a bullish outlook and we believe that the path of least resistance remains higher. In this report we outline our bullish case and highlight actionable opportunities across all 12 sectors.

U.S. Equity Strategy - Bullish Outlook Intact

<p>As the major averages break topside their respective 50-day M.A.s - a positive in its own right - we are encouraged by the shift away from growth &amp; defensives toward the down-and-out laggards in the value arena. It is too early to tell for certain if these are anything more than short-term countertrend moves, but for now the moves we are seeing give us reason for optimism -- something that was running very low just one week ago. In today’s report we highlight attractive Groups and stocks within Consumer Discretionary, Manufacturing, and Transportation: Homebuilding, Small-Cap, Auto Parts, Large-Cap, Trucking, Large-Cap, and Trucking, Small-Cap.</p>

As the major averages break topside their respective 50-day M.A.s - a positive in its own right - we are encouraged by the shift away from growth &amp; defensives toward the down-and-out laggards in the value arena. It is too early to tell for certain if these are anything more than short-term countertrend moves, but for now the moves we are seeing give us reason for optimism -- something that was running very low just one week ago. In today’s report we highlight attractive Groups and stocks within Consumer Discretionary, Manufacturing, and Transportation: Homebuilding, Small-Cap, Auto Parts, Large-Cap, Trucking, Large-Cap, and Trucking, Small-Cap.

U.S. Equity Strategy: Value Closes the Gap on Growth

United States

Whirlpool Corporation manufactures and markets major home appliances.  The Company's principal products include laundry appliances, refrigeration and room air conditioning equipment, cooking appliances, dishwashers, and mixers and other small household appliances.  Whirlpool's products are sold worldwide

Mohawk Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, sources, distributes and markets flooring for residential and commercial applications.  The Company offers carpet, ceramic tile, laminate, wood, stone, vinyl, and rugs.  Mohawk markets residential and commercial flooring in the United States, and residential flooring in Europe.

Taylor Morrison Home Corp is a homebuilder in North America.  The Company builds single-family detached and attached homes and develop land, which includes lifestyle and master planned communities.

TRI Pointe Group, Inc. provides construction services. The Company designs, builds, develops, and constructs residential homes. TRI Pointe Homes serves customers throughout the United States.

Installed Building Products Inc installs residential insulation in the United States.  The Company also installs complementary building products, including garage doors, rain gutters, shower doors, closet shelving and mirrors.

Tempur Sealy International Inc., through its primary subsidiary manufactures and markets foam mattresses, pillows, and miscellaneous products under its own and other brand names.

M/I Homes, Inc. builds single-family homes that are marketed and sold under the M/I Homes and Showcase Homes trade names.  M/I Homes has homebuilding operations in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.

KB Home builds single-family homes in the United States, primarily targeting first-time and first move-up homebuyers.  The Company has operating divisions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Wisconsin, New Mexico,  North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas in the United States. KB Home also derives income from mortgage banking, title and insurance services.

M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, builds and sells homes under the name Richmond American Homes.  The Company also originates mortgage loans primarily for its home buyers.  M.D.C. builds its single-family homes in Colorado, Virginia, Maryland, Northern and Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. manufactures and markets branded consumer products which are sold through a variety of retail and wholesale distribution channels.  The Company's products include housewares, juvenile products, home furnishings, office products, tools and hardware, and hair accessories.

Hang Zhou Great Star Industrial Company Ltd. develops, manufactures and sells hand tools hardware products. The Company's products are hand tools and electric hand-held tools.

Hangzhou Great Star Industrial Co., (002444 CH)

Iida Group Holdings Co., Ltd. is a holding company established by the merger between Hajime Construction, Iida Home Max, Touei Housing, Tact Home, Arnest One and ID Home. Its subsidiaries engage in design, construction and sales of residential properties such as single-family houses and condominiums and construction related works.

Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. sells lumber and wood-related construction materials.  The Company constructs and markets a variety of homes, including custom-built wooden houses, and also manufactures and distributes high-value added wood-based products.  Sumitomo Forestry also maintains a significant amount of Japan's forests.

Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. builds and sells unit residential houses in addition to parcels of land. The Company also manufactures and sells polyvinyl chloride and other plastic products used in, for instance, drainage pipes and bathtubs. Moreover the company is engaged in the production and sale of high performance plastic films, tapes and sheets.

Zhejiang Supor Co., Ltd. manufactures and markets cookware and home appliance products. The Company produces non-stick pans, pressure cookers, stainless steel cookware, rice cookers, air purifiers, thermos cups, and more. Zhejiang Supor markets its to Japan, Europe, and South East Asia.

De'Longhi is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of small domestic appliances worldwide, with market shares in the espresso coffee makers, food preparation, comfort and home care segments. The Group's brand portfolio comprises De'Longhi, Kenwood, Braun (through a perpetual licensing agreement for selected product categories) and Ariete.

SEB S.A. manufactures small household appliances.  The Company produces cookware, electric cookers, food and beverage preparation equipment, vacuum cleaners, and personal care items. SEB's products are sold globally.

Barratt Developments plc develops and builds properties. The Group's UK Operations include the building of houses and housing complexes, general building and civil engineering services, participation in urban renewal and the development  of commercial properties.

The Berkeley Group Holdings PLC is a residential and commercial property development company focusing on urban regeneration and mixed-use developments. The Company purchases and develops land, in addition to constructing homes, and apartment complexes throughout the South of England, the Midlands, and the North West.

Bellway p.l.c. is a holding company whose subsidiaries build residential houses and conduct associated trading activities. The subsidiaries build starter or first time buyer homes, featuring two and three bedroom semi-detached houses, apartments and terraced houses. The Company operates in England, Wales and Scotland.

Meritage Homes Corporation designs, builds, and sells single-family homes ranging from entry level to semi-custom luxury.  The Company operates in the South and West of the United States.

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Meritage Homes (MTH US)

Meritage Homes Corporation: These Are The 3 Biggest Growth Catalysts For The Company!

This is our first report on Meritage Homes Corp. The company's Q4 2023 sales orders increased 60% year on year, with strong home buying demand and...

Baptista Research

S&P 500 Testing 4165-4200, DJIA Testing 34,280, Nasdaq Composite Testing 12,300; Stay Defensive

$SPX testing our 4165-4200 resistance range, $DJI testing 34,280 1-yr resistance, Nasdaq Comp $COMPQ testing critical 12,300 resistance. All while...

Vermilion Research

U.S. Equity Strategy - Bullish Outlook Intact

Considering the absence of breakdowns for the major indexes and for individual Sectors, along with the Fed covering investors’ backs, we continue...

Vermilion Research

U.S. Equity Strategy: Value Closes the Gap on Growth

As the major averages break topside their respective 50-day M.A.s - a positive in its own right - we are encouraged by the shift away from growth...

Vermilion Research

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Meritage Homes Corporation: A Tale Of Community Expansion and Market Share Growth! - Major Drivers

Meritage Homes commenced the year with a remarkable first quarter in 2024, demonstrating both strong execution and a robust demand environment,...

Baptista Research

Meritage Homes Corporation: These Are The 3 Biggest Growth Catalysts For The Company!

This is our first report on Meritage Homes Corp. The company's Q4 2023 sales orders increased 60% year on year, with strong home buying demand and...

Baptista Research

S&P 500 Testing 4165-4200, DJIA Testing 34,280, Nasdaq Composite Testing 12,300; Stay Defensive

$SPX testing our 4165-4200 resistance range, $DJI testing 34,280 1-yr resistance, Nasdaq Comp $COMPQ testing critical 12,300 resistance. All while...

Vermilion Research

U.S. Equity Strategy - Bullish Outlook Intact

Considering the absence of breakdowns for the major indexes and for individual Sectors, along with the Fed covering investors’ backs, we continue...

Vermilion Research

U.S. Equity Strategy: Value Closes the Gap on Growth

As the major averages break topside their respective 50-day M.A.s - a positive in its own right - we are encouraged by the shift away from growth...

Vermilion Research