Dallas, Oct 21--Home builder and mortgage finance company Centex Corp. on Tuesday said its quarterly profit rose 61 percent and raised its outlook for the fiscal year as the boom in home construction continued.
For the fiscal second quarter ending Sept. 30, 2003, Dallas-based Centex, the No. 4 U.S. home builder, said it earned $186 million, or $2.88 a share, compared with $115.6 million, or $1.83 per share, in the fiscal second quarter 2002.
Analysts on average had forecast profit of $2.33 a share, with 11 estimates ranging between $2.20 and $2.49 a share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
Before the company's earnings were released, shares of Centex on Tuesday closed at a record high $91.83, up 2 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Profit from continuing operations were $3.09 a share.
Consolidated revenue rose 26 percent to $2.58 billion, said the company, which also has mortgage, building products, real estate investment and construction products, such as cement and wall boards.
The figures include revenue from Centex Construction Products Inc. Centex Corp. plans to spin off its 65 percent stake in Centex Construction Products to shareholders.
Even though the average 30-year mortgage rate has risen about 1.5 percent, rates are still relatively low, fueling home construction. September's housing starts posted an increase of 3.4 percent. Single-family starts are now 7.6 percent ahead of year-ago results.
Looking ahead, Centex again raised its guidance for full fiscal year 2004 earnings to to a range of $11.00 to $11.25 per share for for fiscal 2004. The revised guidance takes into consideration the impact of the proposed spin-off of Centex Construction Produces.
Analysts, on average expected the company to earn $10.67 a share for the fiscal year.
The company said it expects the impact of the spin-off of Centex Home Products on Centex Corp.'s earnings to be about 15 cents per share for the quarter beginning Jan. 1, 2004.
In July, stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings prompted Centex to raise its fiscal 2004 earnings guidance to $10.25 to $10.75 per share.
During the fiscal second quarter, revenue from Centex's home building business climbed 33 percent to $1.71 billion, with closings up 19 percent to 6,906. Dollar value of Home Building backlog rose 35 percent to $3.9 billion.
Centex's home building unit develops single-family homes, townhouses and low-rise condominiums.
