Strong earnings report from Toll Bros.

By Alan J. Heavens, INQUIRER REAL ESTATE WRITER
Posted: December 05, 2012

Despite analysts' concerns that Superstorm Sandy could affect its performance, Horsham-based luxury-home builder Toll Bros. ended its fiscal fourth quarter with a net profit of $411.4 million or $2.35 a share.

In 2011's fourth quarter, net profit was just $15 million or nine cents a share, the builder reported Tuesday.

"Pent-up demand, rising home prices, low interest rates and improving consumer confidence motivated buyers to return to the housing market" in 2012, said Douglas C. Yearley Jr., Toll's chief executive officer.

"As household formations accelerated and unsold home inventories dropped to record lows, the industry took further steps toward a sustained housing recovery," Yearley said.

The analysts' concerns about Sandy were based on the fact that more than half of Toll's home sales are generated in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.

The storm wasn't even mentioned in Toll's earnings' report.

Included in the fourth quarter was a net tax benefit of $350.7 million. Net income also included pre-tax inventory writedowns of $1.5 million and $700,000 of cash recoveries of previous joint-venture writeoffs.

This compares with pre-tax inventory writedowns of $18.2 million and a $400,000 loss from early repurchase of debt in the 2011 fourth quarter.

Pre-tax income was $60.7 million, compared with $15.3 million in the 2011 fourth quarter.

Revenues were up 48 percent to $632.8 million and deliveries rose 44 percent to 1,088 units year-over-year, Toll reported.

Contact Alan J. Heavens at 215-854-2472, aheavens@phillynews.com or @alheavens at Twitter.

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