D.R. Horton Beats Profit, Sales Forecasts

Shares of D.R. Horton Inc. rose 1.1% in light premarket trade Monday, after the home builder reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter profit and sales as home deliveries surged. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, earnings rose to $142.5 million, or 39 cents a share, from $123.2 million, or 36 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. That exceeds the FactSet consensus analyst earnings-per-share estimate of 34 cents. Revenue rose to $2.25 billion from last year's $1.64 billion, as home sales rose to $2.24 billion from $1.63 billion, compared with analyst forecasts of $2.1 billion and $2.06 billion, respectively. Homes closed increased 37% in value to $2.2 billion, and the number closed rose 29% to 7,973. The stock has gained 0.6% over the past three months through Friday, while the S&P 500 has advanced 4.4%.