RE/MAX Holdings (RMAX) Q1 Earnings: What To Expect

Real estate operations firm RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RMAX) is expected to report first-quarter 2016 results on May 5, 2016, after the market closes.

The company reported a positive earnings surprise of 2.70% in the preceding quarter, and an average beat of 8.21% for the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus estimate for first-quarter earnings is currently pegged at 34 cents.

Let’s see how things have shaped up prior to this announcement.

Factors to Consider

RE/MAX Holdings boasts a highly productive network of over 100,000 agents. In fact, since 2011, the company witnessed a consistent growth in the number of agents. In 2014 and 2015, the company recorded year over year agent growth of 5.1% and 7% respectively. We expect this trend to continue in 2016 and have a positive impact on the first-quarter results.

The housing market has witnessed a steady improvement in recent times with existing home sales in the U.S. recording a 6.3% growth rate and new home sales recording 14.6% growth rate in 2015. This improvement in the housing market is anticipated to continue going forward and impact the results of the leading franchisor of real estate brokerage services positively.

On the other hand, RE/MAX Holdings expects first-quarter 2016 revenues to decline 2–3% year over year. Further, the exchange rate fluctuation is likely to affect results of this company, going forward.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that RE/MAX Holdings will beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate currently stand at 34 cents, which translates into an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

Zacks Rank: RE/MAX Holdings’ Zacks Rank #3, when combined with a 0.00% Earnings ESP, makes surprise prediction difficult.

Note that we caution against stocks with Zacks Rank #4 or #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few stocks in the REIT sector you may want to consider instead, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post a positive surprise this quarter:

Douglas Emmett Inc (NYSE:DEI) has an Earnings ESP of +2.38% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company will report on May 3.

Gramercy Property Trust Inc. (NYSE:GPT) has an Earnings ESP of +5.88% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will release results on May 4.

Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) has an Earnings ESP of +1.46% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will report first-quarter 2016 results on May 4.