Oct 28, 2026 earnings call — HistoryMaker acquisition and Q3 results
Company lowered full year home deliveries to 9,350 to 9,650 homes and home sales revenue to $3.3 billion to $3.4 billion.
Revenue $0.9B (est $0.9B) · EPS $1.01 (est $1.20) · Next-quarter revenue outlook $3.3B–$3.4B
Key quotes
"In early October, we acquired HistoryMaker Homes, Texas' longest-standing production homebuilder, that builds exclusively in the Dallas-Fort Worth market."
"We expect incentives on closed homes in the fourth quarter of 2026 to be 200 to 250 basis points higher than third quarter levels as we navigate a higher rate environment, muted consumer confidence, and compete with other builders for year-end closings."
"We grew our ending community count by 7% year-over-year and 4% sequentially to a new company record of 343 communities."
Analyst Q&A 5
adding move-up homes
Q (Min Cho · Texas Capital Bank): Is the HistoryMaker move-up product something you will expand beyond DFW? Also, why did Century Complete do better year-over-year — product, location, or something else? And do you offer ARMs at Century Complete and are ARM rates higher there?
A: Management said they are increasing move-up exposure across markets, not just DFW. They said Century Complete benefits from secondary locations with less discounting, and the product is a well-equipped, no-options entry-level offering that competes with resale. They confirmed ARMs are offered and said the ARM mix is not significantly different, noting Midwest exposure helps Century Complete.
"And so that's where Century Complete has a benefit in the geography that it operates within is that without that, we're really competing against what we would look at as the used home resale market." — Robert Francescon (CEO)
incentive split and October pace
Q (Rohit Seth · B. Riley): Of the 250 basis points of added incentives, how much is mortgage buydown versus price cuts and is it regionally concentrated? Also, can you quantify October absorption versus September and did buyers return when rates eased?
A: They said historically incentives trend about 60% to price and 40% to mortgage, and they expect a similar split in the 200–250 basis point guide, maybe a bit more mortgage-weighted in Q4. On regions, the rate rise has been consistent across the portfolio so no single region stands out. They would not provide specific October absorption numbers, said October is down like September, and noted a little positive energy when rates eased but it is too recent to call a trend.
"Yes, Rohit, we've experienced over the last 6 or 8 quarters, a pretty consistent split of our incentives really trending about 60% towards price, 40% towards mortgage side." — Unknown Executive
ability to close homes, lot costs, resale pressure
Q (Jay McCanless · Citizens JMP): What gives you confidence you can sell and close about 1,300 homes in a seasonally weak quarter? Will the decline in lot costs continue into Q4 and 2027? Are you seeing pressure from existing homes or competitors clearing inventory?
A: They said the guide is based on current inventory and a number of homes already started, giving opportunities to sell into and hit the midpoint. They are pleased with lot cost trends, using lower-deposit control strategies to gain flexibility on timing and terms, and are optimistic the trend will continue while noting land remains competitive. On resale competition, Q4 typically brings more competition and is a reason for higher incentives, but they did not identify any market with notable resale pressure.
"I think we've generally started a number of homes throughout the year that we feel like we've got a fair amount of opportunities for which to sell into and hit the mid-point of the guide." — Unknown Executive
demand sensitivity and capital priorities
Q (Alan Ratner · Zelman): Do incentives still move buyers now that rates moved quickly and seasonality is weak, or are they less effective? And with leverage up about $500 million year-to-date, will you keep borrowing to fund buybacks or shift to paying down debt?
A: They said for their buyer profile affordability is the main concern and buyers are more inelastic — incentives still help get buyers to the monthly payment they need, though maybe less than last year; rate volatility also affects decisions. On capital allocation they said priority is to focus on debt-to-cap and work that down; opportunistic buybacks are possible but paying down leverage is the focus near-term.
"I think our first priority, going forward, will really be to make sure that we're focused on the debt to cap." — Unknown Executive
HistoryMaker deal funding and strategy
Q (Alex Barrón · Housing Research Center): Did you fund the HistoryMaker acquisition with cash or debt? Why buy them and what metrics do you use to value and decide on these builder acquisitions?
A: They said the deal was funded with proceeds from their revolving credit facility — effectively all cash from the revolver after extending and expanding it to $1.2 billion. They described a bolt-on acquisition strategy in existing markets to drive scale, local knowledge, land resources, and G&A leverage; they declined to give valuation specifics but called the deal a win-win and accretive.
"So the acquisition itself was funded based off of proceeds from our revolving credit facility." — Robert Francescon (CEO)