Meritage Homes Corporation

If you should need operator assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to turn the call over to Emily Dodono, VP of Investor Relations and External Communications. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to our analyst call to discuss our fourth quarter 2025 results. We issued the press release yesterday after the market closed. You can find it along with the slides we'll refer to during this call on our website at investors.meritagehomes.com or by selecting the investor relations link at the bottom of our homepage. Please refer to slide two, cautioning you that our statements during this call, as well as in the earnings release and accompanying slides, contain forward-looking statements. Those and any other projections represent the current opinions of management, which are subject to change at any time, and we assume no obligation to update them. Any forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Our actual results may be materially different than our expectations due to a wide variety of risk factors, which we have identified and listed on this slide as well as in our earnings release and most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission specifically our 2024 annual report on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for subsequent quarters. We've also provided a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures referred to in our earnings release as compared to their closest related GAAP measures. Share and per share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect our January 2, 2025 stock split for all prior periods. With us today to discuss our results are Steve Hilton, Executive Chairman, Philippe Lorig, CEO, and Giles Ferruza, Executive Vice President and CFO of Meritage Homes. We expect today's call to last about an hour. A replay will be available on our website later today. I'll now turn it over to Mr. Hilton. Steve?

Thank you, Emily. Welcome to everyone listening in on our call. Today I'll begin with a brief overview of market trends and highlight our fourth quarter results. Philippe will then discuss our strategy and provide an operational update. Finally, Hila will review our financial performance and share our 2026 forward-looking guidance. The fourth quarter of 2025 ended a year marked by much softer-than-anticipated market conditions as affordability challenges persisted and buyer confidence deteriorated. Our fourth quarter 2025 sales orders totaled 3,224 and our average absorption pace was 3.2 net sales per month, reflecting Q4 sales seasonality, a pullback in buyer urgency, and a strategic decision to hold the line on incentives. Despite the tougher conditions, our 60-day closing guarantee and healthy supply of nearly complete spec inventory contributed to another quarter with an exceptional backlog conversion rate of 221%. We delivered 3,755 homes and home closing revenue of $1.4 billion this quarter, which led to an adjusted home closing gross margin of 19.3% and adjusted demoted EPS of $1.67, both in line with our guidance range. We also increased our book value per share of 7% year-over-year and completed $150 million of share buybacks, returning nearly $180 million in total capital to shareholders this quarter via repurchases and dividends. Our full-year 2025 sales volume of 14,650 homes was essentially flat compared to prior year as we grew Indian community account 15% year-over-year to 336 communities, offsetting slower demand. On a full-year basis, we achieved an average absorption pace of 3.9 which we believe was better than the broader market trends, demonstrating the benefit of our strategic focus, including our strong realtor engagement. We anticipate that in the near term, market conditions will continue to be impacted by elevated mortgage interest rates, job security concerns, and greater macroeconomic geopolitical uncertainties. However, long-term housing demand remains supported by favorable demographics and an undersupply of affordable homes in the United States. We believe our strategy allows us to effectively compete with existing home sales, which will continue to create a market differentiator for us. Now I'll turn it over to Philippe.