Profit rises 41% for LV builder

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 11 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Wednesday its profit jumped 41 percent in the latest quarter, easily beating Wall Street estimates, as it marked its first billion-dollar revenue quarter.

The Atlanta-based company, which builds single-family homes in Las Vegas and elsewhere around the country, earned $57.2 million, or $4.18 a share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30. That's up from $40.7 million, or $3.03 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast, on average, earnings of $3.90 a share for the latest quarter.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 15 percent to $1.04 billion from $904.3 million, as the company posted a record 5,014 home closings and a record 3,862 new orders. Closings and new orders each exceeded the prior year's levels by 4 percent.

For the full 2003 fiscal year, Beazer reported net income of $172.7 million, or $12.78 a share, on revenue of $3.18 billion. That compares with the last year's earnings of $122.6 million, or $10.74 per share, on $2.64 billion of revenue.

First Call's 2003 projection was earnings of $12.49 a share on revenue of $3.08 billion.

Beazer ended the year with a record backlog of 7,426 homes with a sales value of $1.6 billion. Compared with the levels seen at the end of fiscal 2002, backlog was up 14 percent.

In the Las Vegas area, Beazer Homes closed escrow on 1,025 homes through Sept. 30, the end of its fiscal year, said Kent Lay, senior regional president for the Mountain Region.

"Every year we have been more productive and this fiscal year we expect to close escrow on 1,500 (homes)," he said.

In Las Vegas, Beazer Homes is among the top 10 builders. In 2002, the builder closed escrow on 866 homes, according to Home Builders Research Inc. Prices for Beazer Homes in the Las Vegas area range from $140,000 to more than $400,000, with the average price around $200,000, Lay said.

Lay said Beazer Homes, known in the valley for its single-family detached houses, will open two communities in the next six months that will sell duplexes.

Lay said the biggest challenge facing Beazer Homes in Las Vegas is dealing with local municipalities, which are imposing tighter time frames, density requirements and long waits in the permitting and building process.

Beazer stock closed Wednesday at $106.31, up $5 or 4.9 percent.