At a glance
Meritage Corporation is worth $4.00B, about 10 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. It pays a 3.02% dividend yield, and returned $919.5M to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned −10.3% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +3.9% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 62.4% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 45.6% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 2 months and 9 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Meritage Homes designs and builds single-family homes, both detached houses and attached homes such as townhomes. It targets entry-level buyers and people making their first move up, mainly in high-growth markets, and calls itself the fifth-largest homebuilder in America. As of December 31, 2025, it was selling in 336 communities, with base prices from about $161,000 to $1,000,000. The average price on homes delivered to buyers in 2025 was about $384,000.
Meritage builds every home "on spec," meaning it starts construction before a buyer signs, using preset plans and features. Since mid-2024 it has sold homes later in construction, shortening the wait from sale to closing so it can compete with resale homes. The approach rests on three parts: move-in-ready homes, a 60-day closing-ready guarantee that began in 2025, and close work with outside real estate agents. To help with monthly payments, it offers financing incentives, such as locking in or lowering a buyer's mortgage rate.
Homebuilding, its main business, is reported in three regions (West, Central and East) covering twelve states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. A financial services segment offers buyers title insurance and closing services through Carefree Title, homeowners insurance through Meritage Insurance, and mortgages through a joint venture.
Price history
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MTH -10.3% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was —, and net income was $67.8M (-31.7%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was — (— year over year) with a null% net margin.
Financial health check
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 8.7% watch |
|---|---|
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 5.9% watch |
| Cash and investments | $677.5M (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | — | $423.5M | $510.4M |
| FY2021 | — | $737.4M | $-177.8M |
| FY2022 | — | $992.2M | $378.3M |
| FY2023 | — | $738.7M | $317.4M |
| FY2024 | — | $786.2M | $-256.2M |
| FY2025 | — | $453.0M | $92.6M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $4.00B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 9.8 |
| Dividend yield | 3.02% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Meritage’s market value went from $1.39B at the end of 2016 to $4.00B on Oct 28, 2026, about 2.9 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is down 14%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $4.00B | -13.8% |
| 2025 | $4.63B | -16.8% |
| 2024 | $5.57B | -12.4% |
| 2023 | $6.35B | +88.3% |
| 2022 | $3.37B | -26.0% |
| 2021 | $4.55B | +46.2% |
| 2020 | $3.12B | +33.1% |
| 2019 | $2.34B | +59.5% |
| 2018 | $1.47B | -28.9% |
| 2017 | $2.06B | +48.2% |
| 2016 | $1.39B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTH price data to Oct 28, 2026 | -3.7% | -10.3% | +5.9% | +3.9% | +15.8% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -3.7% |
| 2025 | -12.3% |
| 2024 | -10.1% |
| 2023 | +90.5% |
| 2022 | -24.5% |
| 2021 | +47.4% |
| 2020 | +35.5% |
| 2019 | +66.4% |
| 2018 | -28.3% |
| 2017 | +47.1% |
| 2016 | +2.4% |
| 2015 | -5.6% |
| 2014 | -25.0% |
| 2013 | +28.5% |
| 2012 | +61.1% |
| 2011 | +4.5% |
| 2010 | +14.8% |
| 2009 | +58.8% |
| 2008 | -16.5% |
| 2007 | -69.5% |
| 2006 | -24.2% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 42.3% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 76.1%, back to its old high 26.9 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 59.2% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 62.4%, back to its old high 2.3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 40.2% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 45.6%, back to its old high 9.4 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-31 to 2026-10-31 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 19 sales ($4.5M), 18 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 23, 2026 | Phillippe Lord Chief Executive Officer, Director | sell (plan) | $2.0M |
| Feb 23, 2026 | Phillippe Lord Chief Executive Officer, Director | sell (plan) | $509K |
| Feb 23, 2026 | Hilla Sferruzza EVP- Chief Financial Officer | sell (plan) | $430K |
| Feb 23, 2026 | Hilla Sferruzza EVP- Chief Financial Officer | sell (plan) | $388K |
| Feb 23, 2026 | Malissia Clinton EVP - Gen. Counsel, Secretary | sell (plan) | $334K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 15.1% | Jun 30, 2025 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 6% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| FMR LLC | 5.4% | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.08% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| STATE STREET CORPORATION | 5% | Sep 30, 2025 |
ETFs with the most weight in MTH
| ZIG Acquirers Fund | 3.47% |
| XHB SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF | 3.23% |
| PSCD Invesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary ETF | 3.13% |
| KOOL North Shore Equity Rotation ETF | 2% |
| ITB iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF | 1.94% |
| IJS iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.84% |
| SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | 0.82% |
| VIOV Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.8% |
What could go wrong
- Every home is built before it sells. Meritage starts all homes before finding buyers and sells them later in construction. If the strategy falters or sales slow, unsold homes and community costs can pile up, hurting profits and cash flow.
- Business is concentrated in twelve states. Meritage builds only in twelve states, including Texas, Arizona, Florida and the Carolinas. A housing slump in these markets could hit it harder than a builder spread across more of the country.
- Mortgage rates and costly buyer incentives. Most buyers need a mortgage. Higher rates or tighter lending can cut sales and raise cancellations. Meritage pays to lock in mortgage rates for buyers, but this is expensive and may not stay available.
- Land could lose value, forcing write-downs. Meritage owns land for future communities and controls more through option contracts (rights to purchase later). If prices or sales fall, it may write down that real estate or abandon options, either causing losses.
- Reliance on outside crews and material costs. Meritage acts only as a general contractor; outside subcontractors do virtually all construction. Labor shortages, tariffs on building supplies or inflation can delay homes and squeeze profits, and it has already absorbed higher costs.
- Natural disasters and extreme weather. Meritage builds in coastal markets such as South Florida, the Florida Panhandle, Coastal Alabama and Coastal Mississippi. Natural disasters and extreme weather, possibly worsened by climate change, can disrupt construction and raise costs.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released
- Bylaws or fiscal year changed
- Quarterly results released
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Executive or board change; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released
For income and retirement investors
Meritage's dividend record is short. The company paid none in fiscal 2021 or 2022, started in fiscal 2023, and raised the per-share payout in fiscal 2024 and 2025. Dividends totaled $121 million in fiscal 2025, about 27% of earnings but 131% of free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business), so that year's cash flow did not cover them. The yield was 3.02% as of October 28, 2026. Buybacks have been larger: $650 million over fiscal 2021–2025, and the share count fell about 13% between October 2021 and July 2026.
The stock has dropped steeply in downturns: 76% in late 2008, taking about 27 months to recover; 62% in the 2020 COVID crash, recovering in about two months; and 46% in the 2022 market slump, recovering in about nine months. Its worst fall over 21 years of price history was 93%. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Meritage Homes make money?
Meritage makes money mainly by building and selling single-family homes aimed at entry-level and first move-up buyers. As of December 31, 2025, it was selling in 336 communities across twelve states, and homes delivered in 2025 sold for about $384,000 on average. It builds every home before a buyer signs and offers financing incentives to help buyers afford payments. A financial services segment adds title insurance, closing services and homeowners insurance, and offers mortgages through a joint venture.
Does Meritage Homes pay a dividend?
Yes. Meritage paid no dividends in fiscal 2021 or 2022, then started paying in fiscal 2023 and raised its per-share dividend in fiscal 2024 and 2025. The yield was 3.02% as of October 28, 2026. In fiscal 2025 it paid $121 million in dividends, about 27% of net income but about 131% of free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business), so that year's cash flow did not cover the payout. It spent more on buybacks than on dividends over fiscal 2021–2025.
Why did Meritage Homes' earnings drop?
Profits fell sharply in a weaker housing market. Net income dropped 42.4% in fiscal 2025 to about $453 million, and earnings per share fell to $6.35 from $10.72 in fiscal 2024. Meritage's annual report says 2025 demand was much softer than expected as affordability problems persisted and consumer confidence slipped, leaving buyers more reliant on financing incentives, which are costly for the builder. Net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 was also down 38.3% from a year earlier.
Is Meritage Homes stock cheap?
On past earnings the shares look inexpensive, but that needs context. As of October 28, 2026, the stock traded at about 9.8 times fiscal 2025 earnings, for a market value of about $4.0 billion. Homebuilder profits rise and fall with the housing cycle, so a low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio can reflect expectations that earnings will stay weak or fall further. The share price fell 10.3% in the year to October 28, 2026, and gained about 3.9% a year over five years.
Which ETFs hold Meritage Homes stock?
Meritage appears in 95 ETFs. Its largest weights are in the Acquirers Fund (ZIG) at about 3.5%, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) at about 3.2%, and the Invesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary ETF (PSCD) at about 3.1%. It is about 1.9% of the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) and about 0.8% of small-cap value funds such as IJS, SLYV and VIOV. Funds like XHB and ITB spread housing risk across many companies. Weights shift as prices move and funds rebalance.