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Meritage Homes (FRA:MEY) Beneish M-Score : -1.94 (As of Mar. 31, 2025)


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What is Meritage Homes Beneish M-Score?

The zones of discrimination for M-Score is as such:

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.
An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Good Sign:

Beneish M-Score -1.94 no higher than -1.78, which implies that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.

The historical rank and industry rank for Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score or its related term are showing as below:

FRA:MEY' s Beneish M-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: -2.6   Med: -1.98   Max: -1.26
Current: -1.94

During the past 13 years, the highest Beneish M-Score of Meritage Homes was -1.26. The lowest was -2.60. And the median was -1.98.


Meritage Homes Beneish M-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Meritage Homes Beneish M-Score Chart

Meritage Homes Annual Data
Trend Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23 Dec24
Beneish M-Score
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.60 -1.26 -1.56 -1.83 -1.94

Meritage Homes Quarterly Data
Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24 Dec24
Beneish M-Score Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -1.83 -1.99 -1.69 -1.67 -1.94

Competitive Comparison of Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score

For the Residential Construction subindustry, Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Beneish M-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score Distribution in the Homebuilding & Construction Industry

For the Homebuilding & Construction industry and Consumer Cyclical sector, Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Meritage Homes's Beneish M-Score falls into.


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Meritage Homes Beneish M-Score Calculation

The M-score was created by Professor Messod Beneish. Instead of measuring the bankruptcy risk (Altman Z-Score) or business trend (Piotroski F-Score), M-score can be used to detect the risk of earnings manipulation. This is the original research paper on M-score.

The M-Score Variables:

The M-score of Meritage Homes for today is based on a combination of the following eight different indices:

M=-4.84+0.92 * DSRI+0.528 * GMI+0.404 * AQI+0.892 * SGI+0.115 * DEPI
=-4.84+0.92 * 0.9607+0.528 * 0.9905+0.404 * 0.8965+0.892 * 1.0407+0.115 * 0.9883
-0.172 * SGAI+4.679 * TATA-0.327 * LVGI
-0.172 * 0.9969+4.679 * 0.131356-0.327 * 1.0351
=-1.92

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Dec24) TTM:Last Year (Dec23) TTM:
Total Receivables was €245 Mil.
Revenue was 1551.369 + 1437.326 + 1581.622 + 1353.057 = €5,923 Mil.
Gross Profit was 363.192 + 357.108 + 412.795 + 347.093 = €1,480 Mil.
Total Current Assets was €6,522 Mil.
Total Assets was €6,840 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was €45 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was €24 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was €593 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was €570 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was €1,329 Mil.
Net Income was 164.88 + 176.565 + 215.115 + 171.135 = €728 Mil.
Non Operating Income was 13.326 + 9.624 + 10.095 + 8.3 = €41 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was -95.083 + -82.888 + -109.573 + 75.376 = €-212 Mil.
Total Receivables was €245 Mil.
Revenue was 1524.809 + 1519.506 + 1447.093 + 1200.468 = €5,692 Mil.
Gross Profit was 387.043 + 408.085 + 345.756 + 267.894 = €1,409 Mil.
Total Current Assets was €5,521 Mil.
Total Assets was €5,826 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was €45 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was €23 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was €572 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was €588 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was €974 Mil.




1. DSRI = Days Sales in Receivables Index

Measured as the ratio of Revenue in Total Receivables in year t to year t-1.

A large increase in DSR could be indicative of revenue inflation.

DSRI=(Receivables_t / Revenue_t) / (Receivables_t-1 / Revenue_t-1)
=(244.749 / 5923.374) / (244.813 / 5691.876)
=0.041319 / 0.043011
=0.9607

2. GMI = Gross Margin Index

Measured as the ratio of gross margin in year t-1 to gross margin in year t.

Gross margin has deteriorated when this index is above 1. A firm with poorer prospects is more likely to manipulate earnings.

GMI=GrossMargin_t-1 / GrossMargin_t
=(GrossProfit_t-1 / Revenue_t-1) / (GrossProfit_t / Revenue_t)
=(1408.778 / 5691.876) / (1480.188 / 5923.374)
=0.247507 / 0.249889
=0.9905

3. AQI = Asset Quality Index

AQI is the ratio of asset quality in year t to year t-1.

Asset quality is measured as the ratio of non-current assets other than Property, Plant and Equipment to Total Assets.

AQI=(1 - (CurrentAssets_t + PPE_t) / TotalAssets_t) / (1 - (CurrentAssets_t-1 + PPE_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=(1 - (6521.711 + 45.157) / 6840.335) / (1 - (5521.123 + 44.89) / 5825.824)
=0.039979 / 0.044596
=0.8965

4. SGI = Sales Growth Index

Ratio of Revenue in year t to sales in year t-1.

Sales growth is not itself a measure of manipulation. However, growth companies are likely to find themselves under pressure to manipulate in order to keep up appearances.

SGI=Sales_t / Sales_t-1
=Revenue_t / Revenue_t-1
=5923.374 / 5691.876
=1.0407

5. DEPI = Depreciation Index

Measured as the ratio of the rate of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization in year t-1 to the corresponding rate in year t.

DEPI greater than 1 indicates that assets are being depreciated at a slower rate. This suggests that the firm might be revising useful asset life assumptions upwards, or adopting a new method that is income friendly.

DEPI=(Depreciation_t-1 / (Depreciaton_t-1 + PPE_t-1)) / (Depreciation_t / (Depreciaton_t + PPE_t))
=(23.483 / (23.483 + 44.89)) / (24.05 / (24.05 + 45.157))
=0.343454 / 0.347508
=0.9883

Note: If the Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization data is not available, we assume that the depreciation rate is constant and set the Depreciation Index to 1.

6. SGAI = Sales, General and Administrative expenses Index

The ratio of Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) to Sales in year t relative to year t-1.

SGA expenses index > 1 means that the company is becoming less efficient in generate sales.

SGAI=(SGA_t / Sales_t) / (SGA_t-1 /Sales_t-1)
=(593.211 / 5923.374) / (571.801 / 5691.876)
=0.100147 / 0.100459
=0.9969

7. LVGI = Leverage Index

The ratio of total debt to Total Assets in year t relative to yeat t-1.

An LVGI > 1 indicates an increase in leverage

LVGI=((LTD_t + CurrentLiabilities_t) / TotalAssets_t) / ((LTD_t-1 + CurrentLiabilities_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=((1329.076 + 569.834) / 6840.335) / ((974.088 + 588.365) / 5825.824)
=0.277605 / 0.268194
=1.0351

8. TATA = Total Accruals to Total Assets

Total accruals calculated as the change in working capital accounts other than cash less depreciation.

TATA=(IncomefromContinuingOperations_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(NetIncome_t - NonOperatingIncome_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(727.695 - 41.345 - -212.168) / 6840.335
=0.131356

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator. An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Meritage Homes has a M-score of -1.92 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.


Meritage Homes Beneish M-Score Related Terms

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Meritage Homes Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
18655 North Claret Drive, Suite 400, Scottsdale, AZ, USA, 85255
Meritage Homes Corp is engaged as a designer and builder of single-family attached and detached homes. It has operations in three regions: West, Central, and East, comprising ten states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. The company operates with two principal business segments: homebuilding and financial services. The homebuilding segments are engaged in the business of acquiring and developing land, constructing homes, marketing and selling those homes, and providing warranty and customer services, and the financial services segment offers title and escrow, mortgage, and insurance services. The company generates key revenue from the homebuilding segment.

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