Horsham, PA, February 23, 2006--Luxury home builder Toll Brothers on Thursday reported a 49% improvement in first-quarter profit, while noting that speculators are leaving the housing market.
Net income in the quarter rose climbed 49% to $163.9 million, or $0.98 a share, with revenue up 35% to $1.34 billion. Its backlog was up 22% to $5.95 billion.
Analysts expected first-quarter earnings of $0.92 a share and fiscal-year earnings of $4.94 a share
Toll Brothers built 1,978 units in the first quarter compared with 1,653 a year ago.
First-quarter contracts, however, dropped 21% to $1.14 billion.
The company is looking for earnings of between $4.77 and $5.26 a share during the fiscal year.
"Speculative demand has ceased and speculators are now putting their homes back on the market ... Markets such as metro Washington, D.C., which are sound economically and showing healthy job growth, will need to work through their excess supply before the imbalance once again tips in our favor," said Robert I. Toll, chairman and CEO.
