Earnings Call Insights: Meritage Homes (MTH) Q1 2026 Management view "Entering 2026, we are cautiously optimistic that lower interest rates and tenant demand will translate into a solid performance for homebuilders, balanced by more muted volatility," said Executive chairman Steven Hilton, while also citing disruption from "a severe winter storm" and that "military operations in Iran commenced at ...
Earnings Call Insights: Meritage Homes (MTH) Q1 2026 Management view "Entering 2026, we are cautiously optimistic that lower interest rates and tenant demand will translate into a solid performance for homebuilders, balanced by more muted volatility," said Executive chairman Steven Hilton, while also citing disruption from "a severe winter storm" and that "military operations in Iran commenced at the end of February, increasing interest rates, price -- gas prices and inflation, all of which negatively impacted consumer confidence." Hilton said Q1 sales orders were "3,664, 5% below last year's first quarter" and added that "capturing demand for the near term will require higher-than-anticipated use of incentives." CEO Phillippe Lord said the company is leaning on community count rather than per-store velocity in the near term: "In the near term, we expect total volume and top line results will largely be driven by increased community count, not higher per store absorptions." He added that active communities rose to "345 by March 31, another company record," and reiterated "5% to 10% full year community count growth for 2026." Lord said shareholder returns were increased despite the macro backdrop: "We intentionally stepped up our share buybacks repurchasing $130 million worth of common shares in Q1," and "we increased our dividend 12% to $0.48 per share." CFO Hilla Sferruzza framed the quarter’s profitability pressure around incentives, land costs, and leverage: "Home closing gross margin of 17.5% for the quarter was 400 bps lower than prior year's 22% as a result of the increased use of incentives, higher lot costs and lost leverage." Outlook "Based on current market conditions, we are updating our guidance for full year 2026 on closing volume and revenue to at or within 5% of full year 2025 results," said CFO Hilla Sferruzza. Sferruzza provided Q2 targets: "we are projecting total home closings between 3,650 and 3,900 units, home closing revenue of $1.37 billion to...
美国司法部指控一名美军士兵利用机密信息，通过预测市场投注牟利。 根据指控，Gannon Ken Van Dyke涉嫌利用有关美国在委内瑞拉抓捕尼古拉斯·马杜罗行动时间的机密信息，在Polymarket进行交易，获利逾40万美元。 根据指控，Van Dyke参与了这项代号为“Operation Absolute Resolve”的美军行动的策划与执行。 指控称，他利用接触该行动机密信息的权限为个人牟...
美国司法部指控一名美军士兵利用机密信息，通过预测市场投注牟利。 根据指控，Gannon Ken Van Dyke涉嫌利用有关美国在委内瑞拉抓捕尼古拉斯·马杜罗行动时间的机密信息，在Polymarket进行交易，获利逾40万美元。 根据指控，Van Dyke参与了这项代号为“Operation Absolute Resolve”的美军行动的策划与执行。 指控称，他利用接触该行动机密信息的权限为个人牟利。 责任编辑：丁文武
Earnings Call Insights: Old Republic International (ORI) Q1 2026 Management View “In the quarter, we produced $211.5 million of consolidated pretax operating income compared to $252.7 million, and our consolidated combined ratio was 96.6% compared to 93.7%.” (President, CEO & Director Craig Smiddy) “For the quarter, our operating return on beginning equity was 11.5% and growth in book value per sh...
Earnings Call Insights: Old Republic International (ORI) Q1 2026 Management View “In the quarter, we produced $211.5 million of consolidated pretax operating income compared to $252.7 million, and our consolidated combined ratio was 96.6% compared to 93.7%.” (President, CEO & Director Craig Smiddy) “For the quarter, our operating return on beginning equity was 11.5% and growth in book value per share, including dividends, was 2.6%.” (President, Smiddy) “We reported net operating income of $171 million for the quarter compared to $202 million last year.” (Senior VP & CFO Francis Sodaro) “On a per share basis, comparable quarter-over-quarter results were $0.68 compared to $0.81.” (Senior VP & CFO Sodaro) “With the current interest rate environment, we expect net investment income growth to remain in the low to mid-single digits throughout the rest of 2026.” (Senior VP & CFO Sodaro) “Both Specialty and Title Insurance recognized favorable development in the quarter, leading to a 1.5 percentage point benefit in the consolidated loss ratio compared to 2.6 points of benefit last year.” (Senior VP & CFO Sodaro) “In the quarter, we paid nearly $77 million in dividends and repurchased $161 million worth of our shares.” (Senior VP & CFO Sodaro) “Since the end of the quarter, we repurchased another $52 million worth of shares, which leaves us with about $640 million remaining in our current repurchase program.” (Senior VP & CFO Sodaro) “Specialty Insurance net premiums written were up 3.4% in the quarter coming from strong rate increases on commercial auto and general liability… partially offset by a decline in our renewal retention ratios as we continue to prioritize rate in certain lines of coverage.” (President, CEO & Director Smiddy) “We appear to be leading the market, specifically within the commercial auto, by driving mid-teen rate increases.” (President, Smiddy) “In the quarter, we announced the formation of another new operating company, Old Republic Property, led by ...
Toltek/iStock via Getty Images Wheat futures jumped Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade in response to drought conditions expanding in U.S. Plains wheat fields, with the U.S. Drought Monitor map showing the spread of extreme drought in Nebraska and patches spreading in Oklahoma and Texas. While dry weather supported wheat, it remains to be seen if the concerns keep wheat positive in the coming ...
Toltek/iStock via Getty Images Wheat futures jumped Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade in response to drought conditions expanding in U.S. Plains wheat fields, with the U.S. Drought Monitor map showing the spread of extreme drought in Nebraska and patches spreading in Oklahoma and Texas. While dry weather supported wheat, it remains to be seen if the concerns keep wheat positive in the coming sessions; "I remind us all that it's still a grass," Gary Sandlund of Futures International told Dow Jones, highlighting that winter wheat is a resilient crop. The weather outlook in wheat-growing areas is turning dryer and moving futures up, but rainfall on the eastern side of the Corn Belt is making the soil moisture especially strong for farmers during planting, Dow Jones said. CBOT wheat ( W_1:COM ) for July delivery rose 2.5% to $6.22 per bushel, while corn ( C_1:COM ) for July delivery edged 0.4% higher to $4.64 1/2 per bushel and soybeans ( S_1:COM ) for July delivery fell 0.4% to $11.74 3/4 per bushel. ETFs: ( WEAT ), ( CORN ), ( SOYB ), ( DBA ), ( MOO ) More on U.S. grain futures What Drives The U.S.-Brazil Soybean Price Spread? Commodities: Peace Talk Optimism Clouds Reality Commodities: Oil Surges Amid Hormuz Blockade Threat
A US soldier has been charged with using inside information to win US$400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced on Thursday. Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s of...
A US soldier has been charged with using inside information to win US$400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced on Thursday. Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said. Van Dyk was a senior enlisted soldier who was part of the special forces...
Claude users can access more apps with Anthropic's AI now thanks to new connectors for everything from hiking to grocery shopping. Anthropic already supported connecting numerous work-related apps to Claude, like Microsoft apps , but this expansion focuses on personal apps like Audible, Spotify, Uber, AllTrails, TripAdvisor, Instacart, TurboTax, and others. Some of these apps, such as Spotify, alr...
Claude users can access more apps with Anthropic's AI now thanks to new connectors for everything from hiking to grocery shopping. Anthropic already supported connecting numerous work-related apps to Claude, like Microsoft apps , but this expansion focuses on personal apps like Audible, Spotify, Uber, AllTrails, TripAdvisor, Instacart, TurboTax, and others. Some of these apps, such as Spotify, already have similar connectors in OpenAI's ChatGPT . Once an app is connected, Claude will suggest relevant connected apps directly in your conversations, like using AllTrails for hike recommendations. Anthropic notes in its blog post announcing the n … Read the full story at The Verge.