Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: saveslivesbyday who wrote (270993)	8/25/2010 9:43:55 AM
From: saveslivesbyday	Respond to of 306849

Maybe they know NHS will surprise?

To: saveslivesbyday who wrote (270993)	8/25/2010 9:47:00 AM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Bob Toll personally invited to the PPT cave. --- UPDATE: Builder Toll Brothers Posts First Profit Since 2007 0 minutes ago - Dow Jones News Related Companies Symbol Last %Chg TOL 16.60 2.53% As of 9:43 AM ET 8/25/10 (Adds comment from analyst, who said the company's return to profitability likely exceeds investor expectations.) DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Shares of luxury builder Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) climbed following a surprise fiscal third-quarter profit, its first in nearly three years, as revenue fell far less than analysts expected. However, the home-builder saw a drop in contract signings amid fewer available communities. The results gave shares a 3% boost to $16.66 in pre-market trading. "This return to profitability, modest as it is, likely exceeds investor expectations," Josh Levin, a Citi home-builder analyst, wrote in a client note. For the quarter ended July 31, Toll Brothers reported a profit of $27.3 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $472.3 million, or $2.93 a share, which included a $361.1 million income-tax provision. Write-downs fell sharply, and excluding them, pretax profit rose to $13.3 million from $3.7 million. Gross margin rose 3.5 percentage points minus write-downs. Revenue dropped 1.6% to $454.2 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast a loss of 14 cents on $393 million in revenue. One bright spot was the company's high-rise projects in the New York City area. Chief Executive Doug Yearley said contract signing for those efforts was more than double year-earlier levels during the quarter, putting the backlog five times higher. Like some other builders, Toll Brothers is using the ongoing weakness to increase land holdings. It spent $104 million on land acquisition during the quarter, putting the fiscal year-to-date figure at nearly $340 million. It had more lots owned and optioned for the second-straight quarter. Chairman Robert Toll said despite the ongoing struggles in the homebuilding industry, the numbers are working in his company's favor longer term. "The combination of potential buyers postponing their purchasing decisions, a lack of new home production over the past several years and a significant reduction in our competition in the luxury home niche could result in pent-up demand coupled with limited supply once a recovery takes hold," he said in the earnings release. Toll Brothers is the first builder to report a full quarter of results since the federal government's first-time homebuyer tax credit expired April 30, though the deadline for closing a deal was extended 90 days to the end of September. Home-builders' results in recent quarters have been boosted by the credit. Further impact of the credit was seen on Tuesday, when the National Association of Realtors said existing-home sales plunged to their lowest level in 15 years as inventories soared to the highest point in more than a decade. Toll's home deliveries rose 1% on a unit basis and fell 2% by valuation. Net signed contracts fell 16% and 11%, respectively, as there were 19% fewer communities in which sales were taking place during the quarter. Per-community signings were higher than each of the three prior fiscal third quarters, but the builder noted the levels still pale in comparison to the 20-year historical average for the period. The cancellation rate was 6.2%, compared with 8.5% a year earlier and 5.3% in the prior quarter. The latest period was the fifth straight quarter in which the rate, one of the sector's lowest, was near what Toll Brothers called historical norms, following three straight years of elevated rates as the housing bubble deflated. -By Nathan Becker and Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2855; nathan.becker@dowjones.com; (Dawn Wotapka contributed to this report.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires 08-25-10 0856ET Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.