WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Home builders PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) and Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (BZH) on Thursday turned to a quarterly profit, helped by improved revenues as well as greater cost control. Both companies reported higher net new orders. Akthough the U.S. housing market demonstrated continued stability in 2011, new home sales were at extremely low levels. The Commerce Department said last week that new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in December. Sales of new single-family homes came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000 for the month, a 2.2 percent dip from the revised November rate of 314,000. A report released by the the National Association of Realtors also showed that pending home sales fell by more than expected in December, with the pending home sales index giving back ground after reaching a nineteen-month high in November. PulteGroup said its net income for the fourth quarter was $13.82 million or $0.04 per share compared to a loss of $165.43 million or $0.44 per share last year. On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.07 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items. The latest quarterly results included $0.17 per share of mortgage, land and debt repurchase charges, partially offset by $0.10 per share of Land-Sale gains and tax benefits. Total revenues advanced to $1.26 billion from $1.19 billion. Analysts estimated revenues of $1.14 billion for the quarter. Revenue from home sales edged up 1 percent to $1.17 billion, driven by a 3 percent increase in average selling price to $271,000, while closings slipped 2 percent to 4,303 homes. The company reported 3,084 net new orders, compared to 3,044 last year that included a one-time pick up of 200 signups due to a change in the company's order recognition process. Selling, general, and administrative expenses declined to $117.20 million from $150.74 million and other expense declined to $18.34 million from $68.61 million.
For the year as a whole, net loss narrowed to $210.39 million or $0.55 per share from $1.097 billion or $2.90 per share in the previous year. Full year revenues slid to $4.137 billion from $4.569 billion. Wall Street expected a loss of $0.52 per share on revenues of $4.01 billion. Looking ahead, Richard Dugas, Jr., CEO of PulteGroup, said, 'Although challenging macroeconomic conditions persist, we believe the progress we have made across our core homebuilding operations should enable the Company to be profitable for the full year of 2012.' PHM closed on Wednesday at $7.83, up from the previous close of $7.45, on 14.39 million shares. Meanwhile, Beazer Homes posted a profit of $739 thousand or $0.01 per share for the first quarter, compared to a loss of $48.81 million or $0.66 per share a year ago. Income from continuing operations was $698 thousand or $0.01 per share, compared to a loss of $48.27 million or $0.65 per share in the same quarter a year ago. The recent quarter results included non-cash pre-tax charges of $3.5 million for inventory impairments and a benefit of $35.7 million from income taxes. The prior-year quarter results included non-cash pre-tax charges of $0.6 million for inventory impairments. Benefit from income taxes was 593 thousand last year. On average, 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.36 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Total revenue grew to $188.55 million from $108.95 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts estimated revenues of $211.43 million. Total new orders increased 36 percent from last year to 724 homes. Total home closings climbed 67 percent to 867 homes. Allan Merrill, CEO of Beazer Homes, said, '...While we have a lot of work in front of us to return to sustainable profitability, we are committed to delivering higher orders and closings as well as positive EBITDA for the full fiscal year.' BZH settled on Wednesday at $3.17, up from the prior close of $3.05, on 3.91 million shares.
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