Meritage Homes (MTH)

Risks

• Increases in interest rates or decreases in mortgage availability may make purchasing a home more difficult or less desirable and may negatively impact the ability to sell new and existing homes.
• Our future operations may be adversely impacted by high inflation or deflation.
• Our ability to acquire and develop raw or partially finished lots may be negatively impacted if we are unable to secure performance bonds.
• If home prices decline, potential buyers may not be able to sell their existing homes, which may negatively impact our sales.
• A reduction in our orders absorption levels may force us to incur and absorb additional community-level costs.
• The value of our real estate inventory may decline, leading to impairments and reduced profitability.
• High cancellation rates may negatively impact our business.
• If we are unable to successfully compete in the highly competitive housing industry, our financial results and growth may suffer.
• We are subject to home warranty and construction defect claims arising in the ordinary course of business, which may lead to additional reserves or expenses.
• A major safety incident relating to our operations could be costly in terms of potential liabilities and reputational damage.
• We experience fluctuations and variability in our operating results on a quarterly basis and, as a result, our historical performance may not be a meaningful indicator of future results.
• Our level of indebtedness may adversely affect our financial position and prevent us from fulfilling our debt obligations.
• Our ability to obtain third-party financing may be negatively affected by any downgrade of our credit rating from one or more rating agencies.
• The physical impacts of climate change such as natural disasters or extreme weather events could increase our costs and adversely affect our operations.
• Our long-term success depends on the availability of lots and land that meet our land investment criteria.
• If our current strategies are not successful, it could have negative consequences on our operations, financial position and cash flows.
• Reduced levels of sales may cause us to re-evaluate the viability of existing land option contracts, resulting in a potential termination of these contracts which may lead to impairment charges.
• Our lack of geographic diversification could adversely affect us if the homebuilding industry in our markets decline.
• Our ability to build energy-efficient technologies at a profitable price point may be replicated by other builders in the future, which could reduce our competitive advantage.
• Shortages in the availability of subcontract labor may delay construction schedules and increase our costs.
• Information technology failures and data security breaches could harm our business.
• The loss of key personnel may negatively impact us.
• Expirations, amendments or changes to tax laws, incentives or credits currently available to us and our homebuyers may negatively impact our business.
• Our income tax provision and other tax liabilities may be insufficient if taxing authorities initiate and are successful in asserting tax positions that are contrary to our position.
• Failure to comply with laws and regulations by our employees or representatives may harm us.
• We are subject to extensive government regulations that could cause us to incur significant liabilities or restrict our business activities.
• Our financial services operations are subject to extensive regulations that could cause us to incur significant liabilities or restrict our business activities.