shares of home builders traded broadly higher monday after keybanc capital analyst kenneth zener flipped to bullish on the sector saying his previous “wall of worry” bearish thesis has played out making it a good time to start buying although zener believes negative housing market fundamentals such as declining affordability and slowing demand fueled by rising interest rates are expected to continue he also said history suggests getting in the sector early and suffering some initial pain tends to pay off in the long run the ishares us home construction exchangetraded fund itb rose 18 in midday trading with 43 of 47 components trading higher as part of his new bullish stance on the group zener upgraded multiple companies and their stocks all traded higher monday   dr horton inc dhi upgraded to overweight from sector weight   pultegroup inc phm upgraded to overweight from sector weight   toll brothers inc tol upgraded to sector weight from underweight the new stance reversed the bearish call he made on the sector in midjanuary when zener said home builders faced a “wall of worry wow” as historically high inflation superseded housing fundamentals which at the time were still “favorable” the home construction etf had tumbled 262 since the january downgrade through friday while the sp 500 index spx fell 154 “since our january downgrade wow fundamentals are weaker credit policy is tighter and builder valuations are lower so why pivot now” zener wrote in a note to clients “the essence of our call lies between jesse livermore ‘there’s a time to go long a time to go short and a time to go fishing’ and wayne gretzky ‘skate to where the puck is going not to where it is’” jessie livermore was a legendary stock trader who was said to have amassed a fortune in the early 20th century and lost it more than once and whose trading principles are still followed by many on wall street and gretzky is a “hall of fame hockey player who holds the national hockey league scoring record by far zener said data going back to 1963 shows that home builder stocks fall an average of 41 on aggregate versus a 28 drop in the sp 500 then rise 194 vs a 141 gains for the sp 500 in each bearbull market cycle and from the dec 10 2021 record close of 8304 for the home construction etf to the june 16 2022 twoyear closing low of 4913 the etf fell 408 while the sp 500 fell 236 from its jan 3 record close to its june closing low basically zener said that while he’s not trying to “time a bottom” his research suggests that at current prices “relative risk to return is compelling” for investors