Thursday November 8, 10:30 am ET
By Ilaina Jonas
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL – News) said on Thursday that it expected to report a 36 percent drop in quarterly home-building revenue, while net orders for new homes fell more steeply than in prior quarters, reflecting last month’s deepening decline in the U.S. housing market.
Based on preliminary results, Toll said home-building revenue for the fourth quarter ended on October 31 was about $1.17 billion.
Because of its fiscal calendar, Toll is one of the first major home builders whose quarterly reporting period includes October’s activity. Investors use it as an indicator of industry performance.
“We and other reporting builders have observed that October’s activity appeared weaker than September’s,” Toll Chief Financial Officer Joel Rassman said in a statement. “These trends suggest that we still have challenging times ahead.”
The company, the largest U.S. luxury home builder, signed 1,073 contracts — a predictor of future business — during the fourth quarter, down about 33 percent from a year earlier. The value of the contracts fell 38 percent to $693.7 million.
After canceled orders, net new contracts fell 35 percent to 656 homes — a decline much steeper than the mid 20s percentage rate of the two prior quarters. Their value dropped 48 percent to about $365.2 million.
See the full article here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/071108/tollbrothers_preliminary.html?.v=5
