Posted on 08/22/2013 5:22:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
High-end home builder Toll Brothers reported a drop in fiscal third-quarter profits Wednesday, but the dip was due largely to a tax expense as pre-tax income, revenues and home deliveries all climbed in the quarter.
Toll Brothers recorded net income of $46.6 million, or 26 cents per share, down from $61.6 million a year ago. The 2012 figure included an $18.7 million tax benefit though, compared with a $21.7 million tax expense in the most recent quarter.
On a pre-tax basis Toll Brothers earned $68.3 million, up from $43 million a year ago.
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Net signed contracts were up 47% on a dollar basis to $992.6 million and 26% in units to 1,405 from fiscal 2012, while the cancellation rate was steady at 4.6%. Toll Brothers has a backlog of $2.8 billion, up 75%, and 4,001 units, up 56%, compared with a year ago.
Executives expressed confidence that the builder’s rebound from the dark days of following the housing bust still has a long runway ahead.
“We believe the recovery is real and we are in the early stages of the rebound,” said CEO Douglas Yearley, touting better sales volumes and pricing power.”
Executive Chairman Robert Toll cited improvements from a year ago in measures like the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey — which recently slipped from a fresh six-year high — and the slowly declining unemployment rate.
Inventories are tight, Toll said and “demand, based on household formations, is compelling, especially given the still very-low volume of industry home production.”
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Here in Indiana, it looks like the Mexicans have significantly diminished in the building biz. See a lot more Anglo guys on residential job sites than in the 06-07 boom years.
>>Mortgage lenders have NOT cleaned up their act
What’s their incentive to change?
Where’s LEO?
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