ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI) on Monday reported fiscal first-quarter profit of $431.3 million.
The Arlington-based company said it had net income of $1.16 per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains and non-recurring gains, came to 99 cents per share.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 92 cents per share.
The homebuilder posted revenue of $4.02 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Seventeen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.78 billion.
D.R. Horton expects full-year revenue in the range of $18.5 billion to $19.1 billion.
Homebuilding revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 increased 14% to $3.9 billion from $3.4 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2019. Homes closed in the quarter increased 13% to 12,959 homes compared to 11,500 homes closed in the same quarter of fiscal 2019.
Net sales orders for the first quarter ended December 31, 2019 increased 19% to 13,126 homes and 22% in value to $3.9 billion compared to 11,042 homes and $3.2 billion in the same quarter of the prior year. The company’s cancellation rate (cancelled sales orders divided by gross sales orders) for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 was 20% compared to 24% in the prior year quarter.
The company had 30,200 homes in inventory at Dec. 31, 2019, and its homebuilding land and lot portfolio totaled 319,000 lots, of which 39% were owned and 61% were controlled through land purchase contracts.
“The D.R. Horton team delivered strong results in the first fiscal quarter of 2020, highlighted by EPS increasing 53% to $1.16 per diluted share,” said Chairman of the Board Donald R. Horton, in a statement. “Our consolidated pre-tax income in the first quarter increased 39% to $523.3 million on a 14% increase in revenues to $4.0 billion. Our pre-tax profit margin improved 230 basis points to 13.0%, and the value of our net sales orders increased 22%. These results reflect our experienced operational teams, industry-leading market share, broad geographic footprint and diverse product offerings across multiple brands.
“We continue to see good demand and a limited supply of homes at affordable prices across our markets, and economic fundamentals and financing availability remain solid. With 30,200 homes in inventory at the end of December, we are well-positioned for the spring selling season and the remainder of fiscal 2020.
“Our continued strategic focus is to grow our revenues and profits and consolidate market share, while generating strong annual operating cash flows and returns. Our balance sheet strength, liquidity and earnings growth provide us with significant financial flexibility, and we plan to maintain our disciplined, opportunistic approach to investing capital to enhance the long-term value of our company.”
D.R. Horton shares have increased 11% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 2%. The stock has increased 57% in the last 12 months.
D.R. Horton Inc., up $1.16 to $59.67 at the end of the day on Monday.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DHI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DHI