** Shares in homebuilder Lennar Corp LEN.N down 4.7% on Thursday, on track for biggest one-day pct drop since late January after a mixed report with fiscal Q1 revenue falling short of Wall Street views and house prices lower than expected even as earnings beat expectations
** For its Q1 ended Feb 29, LEN reported rev of $7.313 bln, below consensus estimate of $7.388 bln while adj EPS of $2.27 beat $2.20 consensus view, according to LSEG
** LEN's Q1 average closing price of $413,000 missed its guidance for $420,000, issued in December
** LEN forecast 20,900 to 21,300 orders for the current quarter, which Wedbush analyst Jay McCanless was more bullish than consensus estimate of 20,900
** The analyst sees bulls focusing on the more bullish order guidance and a $5 billion increase to its share repurchase authorization earlier this month
** But McCanless that while Q1 closings of ~16,800 homes were ahead of the midpoint its 16,500-17,000 guidance range it missed his own 16,900 estimate
** For the bears, the analyst says LEN's Q2 gross margin guide of ~22.5% compares with 23.0% consensus view and Q2 average closing price guide of $420,000-$425,000 versus a consensus forecast of $433k
** LEN shares last traded at $157.65 vs median PT of $169 as per LSEG, which lists 23 analyst ratings 4 'strong buy,' 10 'buy,' 7 'hold, and 2 'sell'
(Reporting By Sinéad Carew)
((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +13322191897;))