:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2223101080-e7032ba8a50a4537a710e7ee3e6bcb83.jpg "Housing Giant Lennar Looks to Rate Cutes to Stimulate Demand After Earnings Miss")
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Key Takeaways
- Lennar shares slid Friday after the homebuilder posted quarterly earnings that missed analysts’ estimates, pointing to weakness in the housing market.
- The homebuilding giant said it increased incentives to encourage buyers hesitant because of high interest rates.
- CEO Stuart Miller suggested falling interest rates later in the quarter and the Federal Reserve’s cut this week could help stimulate demand.
Shares of Lennar (LEN) slid Friday after the company’s earnings missed estimates, pointing to weakness in the housing market.
The housing giant’s stock dropped nearly 6% in early trading, making it one of the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 Friday, before recovering some of its losses later in the session.
Lennar reported adjusted earnings per share of $2 on revenue that fell over 6% year-over-year to $8.81 billion in its fiscal third quarter. Both figures fell short of analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
CEO Stuart Miller said the performance reflected “both the continued pressures of today’s housing market and the consistency of Lennar’s operating strategy,” which included incentives to encourage buyers hesitant because of high interest rates.
Miller added that even though mortgage rates remained high during the quarter, they declined near the end of the period. He suggested that this trend, combined with the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut, “gives us optimism as we head into the fourth quarter.” He said that “now is a good time to moderate our volume and allow the market to catch up.”
Shares of Lennar have lost about 1% in 2025 so far.
