XHB - This Growth Stock Is Probably Missing in Your Retirement Account
Over the past few years, Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH) has gradually shifted its focus away from "move-up" homes, and made entry-level housing its biggest business. This was a bold step by the company, already a top-10 homebuilder at the time, to shift away from a business model that had proven successful and profitable.
However, CEO Steve Hilton saw a huge opportunity on the horizon, and realized that it would take many years to fully realize the opportunity. The past decade saw homebuilders almost completely give up on building small, affordable homes for young people looking to make their first home purchase, leaving a massive underserved market with too little inventory to meet the needs of a growing population of first-time buyers.
The starter homes market has years of growth ahead of it. Image source: Getty Images.