Fort Worth, TX, January 19, 2006--D.R. Horton Inc., the largest U.S. home builder, said on Thursday that first-quarter profit rose a better-than-expected 29 percent, as sales rose in every region but the Southwest.
For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2005, the company said it earned $310 million, or 98 cents per share, compared with $241 million, or 76 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.
Revenue, which the company does not book until construction is finished and the keys are ready to turn over to the new owner, rose 15 percent to $2.9 billion.
"We are very pleased with the company's first-quarter performance, where again we grew our net income at a faster pace than our revenues," Chairman Donald Horton said in a statement.
Analysts had expected Horton to post earnings of 94 cents per share on revenue of $2.94 billion.
Although sales in the Southwest fell 10 percent during the quarter, new orders in the region rose 21.5 percent, the company said. Nationwide, new orders for the quarter rose 16 percent to 11,463 homes, with the strongest showing in the company's largest market, the Southwest, where orders rose 21.5 percent. The dollar value of all orders rose 19 percent to $3.2 billion.
Horton ended the quarter with a sales order backlog of 20,816 homes on order and awaiting construction, up 19.6 percent. The value of the backlog reached $6.2 billion, up 30 percent.
Looking at the second quarter, it said earnings per share will probably run between $1.05 and $1.10. Analysts on average expect it to earn $1.09 a share.
Horton also increased its outlook for fiscal 2006 earnings to a range of $5.25 to $5.35 per share from its previously raised forecast of $5.22 to $5.32 per share. It reiterated that revenue should be in excess of $15.5 billion and it should sell more than 58,000 homes in fiscal 2006.
Analysts expect Horton to earn $5.33 per share on revenue of $16.06 billion for fiscal 2006.
