PREVIEW: Lennar shares inch lower; results due after the bell

Shares of Lennar LEN.N inched lower in afternoon trading Thurs, with the homebuilder seen reporting a decline in rev and EPS from a yr ago when it releases quarterly results after the closing bell

Analysts expect Q3 rev of $9 bln vs $9.4 bln a yr ago and EPS of $2.10 vs $4.26 a yr ago, according to LSEG

In June, Lennar posted Q2 rev above Wall Street expectations, but its avg sales price of $389,000 declined from $408,000 in Q1 and was lower than $426,000 a year earlier, as affordability for home buyers is an issue. Its Q2 profit of $1.81/shr nearly halved from a year earlier.

LEN has beaten analysts' earnings expectations in six of the past eight reporting periods, per LSEG

On Wed, shares of U.S. homebuilders including Lennar rose just after the Federal Reserve cut rates by a qtr of a percentage point at its policy meeting

The breakdown of analyst recommendations on LEN include five "strong buy" or "buy" ratings and 15 "hold" ratings

The median 12-mo PT on the stock is $130; the stock was last at $132.46

LEN is up 1.1% YTD compared with a roughly 13% gain in the S&P 500 .SPX in that period