Lennar 3Q profit rises on home demand

Demand for homes boosted Lennar Corp.'s third-quarter revenue and profit, topping Wall Street expectations.

Shares rose 4 percent before regular trading Tuesday, following the results.

The Miami-based homebuilder said profit rose 5.6 percent to $249.2 million, or $1.06 per share. Revenue surged 15 percent to $3.26 billion. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.01 per share, while five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.22 billion in revenue.

Deliveries of new homes rose 12 percent during the quarter, while new orders jumped 8 percent. The value of those new orders rose 14 percent to $2.9 billion.

"These results were supported by strong demand for homes, low unemployment, favorable interest rates and increased consumer confidence which are all signs of a very healthy homebuilding market," said CEO Stuart Miller.

Lennar shares have risen 23 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 13 percent. The stock has risen 25 percent in the last 12 months.

_____

Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LEN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LEN

_____

Keywords: Lennar, Earnings Report