Toll Brothers Inc., a U.S. builder of luxury homes, said on Wednesday third-quarter profit rose 56 percent, easily beating analysts’ forecasts, helped by record home-building revenue.
The Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania-based company also said it expects fiscal 2005 profit to exceed analysts’ forecasts, helped by a record backlog of new home orders.
Toll said net income for the quarter which ended July 31 rose to $106.02 million, or $1.31 per share, from $68.16 million, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier.
It said revenue rose 46 percent to $1.01 billion, including $991.3 million from the construction of 1,684 homes. New contracts rose 69 percent to $1.6 billion, representing 2,329 homes.
The company also said it ended the quarter with a record backlog of $4.3 billion, representing 6,856 homes.
Based on that backlog and current demand, Toll said it expects to build 7,700 to 8,000 homes in fiscal 2005, with an average price exceeding $600,000.
This, it said, is expected to result in fiscal 2005 net income exceeding 2004’s total by at least 30 percent, with earnings per share up 25 percent. Toll also said 20 percent fiscal 2006 revenue and net income growth “should be achievable”.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average forecast per-share profit of $1.20 for the third quarter, $4.41 for fiscal 2004, and $5.29 for fiscal 2005.
Chief Executive Robert Toll said the company’s results in part reflect “the growing number of affluent U.S. households and the (home building) industry’s environment of greater stability and reduced cyclicality.”