As reported earlier, BofA/Merrill analyst John Lovallo downgraded PulteGroup to Neutral from Buy and lowered his price target to $28 from $32 as part of his broader research note that also lowered the 2018-2019 outlook for housing starts and new home sales. The analyst sees the company growing its orders at a below peer average rate of about 5.5% in 2019 and expects it to prioritize gross margins by "pushing price over pace". Lovallo also lowers his implied forward earnings multiple of PulteGroup to 7.0-times from 8.0-times to reflect the housing risks and its recent pivot back toward entry-level homes.

Zelman upgraded PulteGroup to Outperform from Neutral.

BTIG analyst Carl Reichardt raised the firm's price target on PulteGroup to $133 from $122 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after its Q1 earnings beat. The outperformance was driven by delivery volume, gross margin, financial services income and a lower tax rate, though these were partially offset by lower average selling prices, SG&A ex-the benefit and land sales profit, the analyst tells investors in a research note. BTIG maintains that PulteGroup's high relative returns, conservative balance sheet, balanced product mix and scale advantages over many smaller peers are underappreciated.