ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI) on Tuesday reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $474.8 million.
The Arlington-based company said it had profit of $1.26 per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.06 per share.
The homebuilder posted revenue of $4.91 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $4.88 billion, also surpassing Street forecasts. Sixteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.51 billion.
For the nine months ended June 30, net income increased 12% to $1.1 billion, or $2.94 per diluted share, compared to $994.1 million, or $2.59 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2018. Homebuilding revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 increased 8% to $12.2 billion from $11.2 billion in the same period of fiscal 2018. Homes closed in the first nine months of fiscal 2019 increased 10% to 40,951 homes compared to 37,183 homes closed in the same period of fiscal 2018.
Net sales orders for the third quarter ended June 30, 2019 increased 6% to 15,588 homes and 8% in value to $4.7 billion compared to 14,650 homes and $4.4 billion in the same quarter of the prior year. The company’s cancellation rate (cancelled sales orders divided by gross sales orders) for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 was 20% compared to 21% in the prior year quarter. Net sales orders for the first nine months of fiscal 2019 increased 5% to 43,435 homes and 4% in value to $12.9 billion compared to 41,231 homes and $12.3 billion in the same period of fiscal 2018.
The company had 29,200 homes in inventory at June 30, 2019, and its homebuilding land and lot portfolio totaled 303,000 lots, of which 39% were owned and 61% were controlled through land purchase contracts.
The company ended the third quarter with $577.9 million of homebuilding unrestricted cash and a homebuilding debt to total capital ratio of 18.5%. Homebuilding debt to total capital consists of homebuilding notes payable divided by stockholders’ equity plus homebuilding notes payable.
“The D.R. Horton team delivered strong results in our third quarter,” said Donald R. Horton, Chairman of the Board, in a news release. “Our consolidated revenues increased 11% to $4.9 billion, and our pre-tax profit margin was 12.8%. The spring selling season was solid, and our homebuilding gross margin improved sequentially.
“Our continued strategic focus is to consolidate market share while growing our revenues and profits, generating strong annual cash flows and returns and maintaining a flexible financial position. Our balance sheet strength, liquidity and earnings growth are increasing our strategic and financial flexibility, and we plan to maintain our disciplined, opportunistic position to enhance the long-term value of our company.
D.R. Horton shares have increased 27% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has climbed 21%. The stock has risen slightly in the last 12 months.
_____
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