KB Home (KBH) Stock Price & How to Invest

KB Home builds and sells attached and detached single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums, aimed largely at first-time and first-move-up buyers. It reports four homebuilding segments (West Coast, Southwest, Central and Southeast) plus a financial services arm, and it ended the quarter that closed May 31, 2026 operating 280 communities, up about 11 percent from a year earlier. The distinguishing feature of the model is Built-to-Order: rather than putting up finished spec inventory and discounting whatever does not sell, KB Home starts most houses after a buyer has chosen a floor plan and then has them personalize the house at a design studio, which shows up as both higher option revenue and a longer cash conversion cycle. That share was 73 percent of net orders in the second quarter. The company also captures the mortgage, with KBHS Home Loans financing roughly 81 percent of buyers who used a loan, and it has certified its homes to ENERGY STAR standards for years, which is a real cost input in California where a large share of its communities sit.

The investment picture in September 2026 is a housing-cycle question wearing a company-specific costume. Trailing revenue of ~$5.50 billion is down ~17.5 percent, trailing net income of ~$270.6 million is down ~51.9 percent, and the second quarter delivered 2,395 homes against 3,120 a year earlier at an average selling price of ~$461,900, itself down ~5.5 percent. Housing gross margin fell to 15.2 percent from 19.3 percent. Against that, the balance sheet is not stressed: stockholders' equity of ~$3.80 billion against a ~$3.01 billion market capitalization puts the stock near 0.79 times book, debt to capital sits at 34.1 percent, liquidity was ~$1.12 billion, and the company bought back ~$125 million of stock in the first half with ~$775 million still authorized. Management guided to sequentially higher deliveries and gross margins in the back half, with full-year deliveries of 10,500 to 11,000 homes and housing gross margin of 16.1 to 16.5 percent. The stock closed at ~$49.16 on September 11, 2026, roughly 28 percent below its 52-week high of ~$68.41 and about 12 percent above the ~$44.03 low, with third-quarter results due September 22, 2026.

The core risk is that housing gross margin has reset rather than dipped: 15.2 percent in the quarter against 19.3 percent a year earlier is a 410 basis point move, and the guided recovery to the 16 percent range still leaves the business materially less profitable than it was, with land bought at cycle-peak prices flowing through cost of sales for several more quarters. Operating leverage runs the wrong way at this volume, with SG&A at 12.7 percent of housing revenues versus 10.7 percent, because the fixed cost of 280 communities does not shrink when deliveries fall 23 percent. Concentration is real: a large share of communities sits in California and other high-price Western markets where affordability breaks first when rates rise, and where any local employment shock hits the order book directly. Leadership changed on March 1, 2026, with Robert McGibney taking over as chief executive after Jeffrey Mezger's two decades in the role, which puts a strategy shift and a new operator in the same window. Debt to capital climbing to 34.1 percent while the company repurchases shares is a deliberate use of the balance sheet that works if the ramp arrives and compounds the problem if the downturn extends.

12 analysts publish price targets on KBH, averaging $58.67 against a $49.16 price as of September 2026, or +19.3%. The published targets run from $43.00 to $77.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 3 buy, 9 hold, 3 sell. Over the last six months there have been 5 raises and 4 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full KBH forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on KB Home. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. The Built-to-Order pivot and what it does to margin. KB Home has been moving production away from speculative inventory and back toward houses sold before they are started, and that reached 73 percent of net orders in the second quarter. The most optimistic published target, $77.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The core risk is that housing gross margin has reset rather than dipped: 15.2 percent in the quarter against 19.3 percent a year earlier is a 410 basis point move, and the guided recovery to the 16 percent range still leaves the business materially less profitable than it was, with land bought at cycle-peak prices flowing through cost of sales for several more quarters. The most pessimistic target, $43.00, is roughly what KBH is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on KBH, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see KB Home's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$5.50 billion, down ~17.5%
• Q2 FY2026 (ended May 31, 2026): revenue ~$1.11 billion, deliveries 2,395, diluted EPS ~$0.43 vs ~$1.50
• Housing gross margin: ~15.2% in Q2 FY2026, vs ~19.3% a year earlier
• Backlog and orders: 4,526 homes worth ~$2.14 billion; net orders 3,317, cancellation rate ~12%
• Book value per share: ~$61.93 at May 31, 2026, against a ~$49.16 share price
• FY2026 guidance: 10,500 to 11,000 deliveries, housing revenues ~$4.90B to ~$5.30B, gross margin ~16.1% to ~16.5%

Trailing EPS of ~$4.18 puts the stock near 11.8 times earnings, and the forward multiple of roughly 12.8 is higher than the trailing one, which is the market saying the earnings decline is not finished. The more-cited number is price to book at about 0.79, since homebuilder equity is mostly land and houses carried at cost rather than goodwill, though a builder holding cycle-peak land is exactly the case where carrying value overstates realizable value. Enterprise value is roughly $4.8 billion once ~$1.97 billion of notes payable and ~$199.8 million of cash are included, so the leverage is a larger part of the capital structure than the equity-only view suggests.

If you want KBH exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

Other names that sit close to KBH: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get KBH exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (XHB), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so KBH sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where KBH fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

KBH is a rate-sensitive, book-value-anchored homebuilder in the middle of two transitions at once, a Built-to-Order production model and a new chief executive, so what anyone concludes about it depends on whether the promised second-half delivery and margin ramp actually arrives.

Whether KBH is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is KBH a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the KBH stock forecast.

For income investors, whether KBH pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does KBH pay a dividend? And to weigh KBH against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: KBH vs DHI and KBH vs LEN.