Start here if you're new
what it is
PulteGroup builds and sells single-family homes, develops communities, and hands you a mortgage through its own lending arm.
how it gets paid
Last year Pultegroup made $17.3B in revenue. Home closings was the main engine at $16.74B, or 97% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 3.5% last year. The weak quarter came from 3% fewer homes delivered and a slightly lower average selling price.
what just happened
Pulte's last quarter landed at $2.56 EPS, missing the $2.84 consensus as sales fell 5% to $4.5B.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
85/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
12.0x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
0.9% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
11.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 62/100 — average
What they do
PulteGroup builds and sells single-family homes, develops communities, and hands you a mortgage through its own lending arm.
Pulte wins because it is huge. It operates in 26 states and 45-plus markets, which spreads land risk wider than a local builder can. Vertical integration → controlling more of the process → so what: Pulte can build the home and write the loan through Pulte Mortgage, keeping more of your housing dollar inside one system.
How they make money
$17.3B
annual revenue · their business grew -3.5% last year
Home closings
$16.74B
1.2%
Mortgage services
$0.24B
flat
Land sales
$0.17B
15.0%
Other builder services
$0.15B
10.0%
The products that matter
move-up homebuilding
Pulte Homes
$8.7B · 50% of revenue
it's the biggest brand at $8.7B, about half of company revenue, and it fell 4% last year.
largest segment
first-time homebuilding
Centex
$5.2B · 30% of revenue
this $5.2B business sits closest to monthly payment pressure, and it declined 3% last year.
rate sensitive
active-adult housing
Del Webb
$3.4B · 20% of revenue
Del Webb brought in $3.4B and fell 2%. that's the best relative hold, not a growth engine.
best relative hold
Key numbers
12.0x
trailing p/e
You are paying 12 times trailing earnings for a company with a 14% return on equity. Cheap stock, cyclical business.
$17.3B
2025 revenue
That was down 3.5% vs. prior year, which tells you the housing machine is still large but no longer accelerating.
18.0%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: Pulte keeps $0.18 of each sales dollar before interest and taxes.
11.0%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money tied up in the business → so what: Pulte is productive, but not elite for a cyclical builder.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 60 / 100
- long-term debt $2.2B (8% of capital)
- net profit margin 12.8% — keeps 13 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 14% — $0.14 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in PHM 3 years ago → it's now worth $25,240.
The index would have given you $14,540.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
Pulte's last quarter landed at $2.56 EPS, missing the $2.84 consensus as sales fell 5% to $4.5B.
The weak quarter came from 3% fewer homes delivered and a slightly lower average selling price, according to the company summary in the source data. Full-year EPS also fell to $11.12 from $14.69 in 2024.
$4.5B
revenue
$2.56
eps
9.86%
vs est.
the number that mattered
The miss was not tiny. A $2.56 result versus $2.84 expected means profit came in 9.86% light, which tells you demand and pricing both softened at once.
-
pultegroup finished off a challenging 2025 with a weak fourth-quarter showing.specifically, the georgia-based homebuilder posted december-quarter earnings per share of $2.56, which was below both our estimate of $2.84 and the $4.43 earned in the prior-year comparable period.
-
there were a number of factors that contributed to the disappointing performance, including a 5% sales decrease, to $4.5 billion.
-
the company delivered 3% fewer homes during the three-month period and at a slightly lower average selling price.that, along with an up tick in land, labor, and raw materials costs (pultegroup’s home sales gross margin was down 280 basis points), weighed on the bottom-line performance.
-
for the full year, the homebuilder posted share earnings of $11.12, on revenues $17.3 billion.
-
both figures represented vs. prior year declines.
source: company earnings report, 2025
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What could go wrong
The #1 risk is mortgage-rate-driven order softness in new homes.
high
Orders keep falling
Orders were down 9%. If that persists for multiple quarters, today's cheap multiple stops looking cheap and starts looking correct.
Demand pressure hits the whole $17.3B revenue base, not just one brand.
med
Margins are already moving lower
Quarterly sales fell 5%, but gross margin dropped 280 basis points as land, labor, and materials costs moved up.
That's how a manageable top-line slowdown turns into a much larger EPS decline.
med
Pricing power weakens with volume
The company delivered 3% fewer homes and did so at a slightly lower average selling price.
When both unit volume and pricing soften, the path back to last year's $11.12 EPS gets harder.
If orders stay down 9% and margins keep sliding, pressure lands on a business that generated $17.3B in revenue and $11.12 in EPS last year.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
q1 2026 results on apr 23
you want to see whether the weak finish to 2025 carried into spring selling season.
trend
order trend versus that -9% decline
a smaller decline would support the reset thesis. another ugly print would tell you demand is still sliding.
metric
gross margin after the 280 bps hit
margins matter because they explain why a 5% sales decline produced much more pain in earnings.
risk
average selling price direction
lower pricing on top of lower deliveries means demand is being stimulated with concessions, and that rarely helps multiples.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
85 / 100
management has been relatively consistent. in human-speak: analysts usually have a decent handle on this business, even if the housing cycle doesn't cooperate.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 2 consecutive quarters — 374 buyers vs. 368 sellers in 4q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.2B shares. net buying for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$102
$194
$134
current price
$148
target midpoint · +11% from current · 3-5yr high: $220 (+65% · 14% ann'l return)
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