Homebuilder Toll Brothers misses revenue estimates

US luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc's quarterly revenue fell just short of Wall Street estimates as the company's new line of lower-priced homes targeting millennials weighed on average selling prices. Shares of the company, which narrowed its revenue outlook range and cut the top end of its adjusted gross margin forecast for the full year, were down 1.8 percent at $37.55 in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Toll introduced a new range of earlier this year called T-Select with lower prices and quicker delivery times to tap rising demand from millennials who are starting families. The company, which builds homes that can cost upwards of $2 million, said average selling price per home fell 6.1 percent to $791,400 in the third quarter ended July 31, even as home sales rose 26 percent to 1,899 units.
Toll also said a delay due to a floor joist recall by a major lumber manufacturer during the quarter pushed deliveries of 150 homes to the company's 2018 fiscal year. The recall also hit plans to raise the mid-point of full-year home sales forecast by 100 units, the company said. The Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company said it now expects to sell between 7,000 and 7,300 homes for fiscal year ending October, compared with its previous forecast of 6,950 to 7,450 homes.
Toll also narrowed its full-year revenue forecast range to $5.6 billion-$6.0 billion from $5.4 billion-$6.1 billion, and cut the top end of its adjusted gross margin forecast to 25.0 percent from 25.3 percent, while retaining the lower end at 24.8 percent. However, the company highlighted the strong demand for housing in the United States. "The unemployment rate is at a 15-year low, the economy is growing, the stock market is strong, and home prices continue to rise, putting equity in the pockets of those who may want to sell their existing home and move to a new one," Chief Executive Douglas Yearley said in a statement.
Toll said orders, a key indicator of future revenue for homebuilders, rose about 24 percent to 2,163 in the third quarter, driven by a 62.5 percent jump in California, the company's biggest market by revenue. Revenue rose 18.3 percent to $1.50 billion, but slightly missed estimate of $1.51 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Net income rose 40.8 percent to $148.6 million, or 87 cents per share. The quarterly profit included a $27.9 million tax benefit.