KB Home's Stock Gets a Boost After Profit And Sales Beat Expectations

KB Home's stock rose 1.4% in premarket trade Thursday, after the home builder topped profit and sales expectations, as lower-than-expected deliveries were offset by a bigger-than-expected rise in average selling prices. For the quarter ended Aug. 31, earnings slipped to $23.3 million, or 23 cents a share, from $28.4 million, or 28 cents a share, but beat the FactSet EPS consensus of 22 cents. Revenue climbed 43% to $843.2 million, well above the FactSet consensus of $817 million. Home deliveries increased 25% to 2,236, below the FactSet consensus of 2,307, but the 9% increase in the average selling prices to $357,200 was above the FactSet consensus of $346,380. Net orders grew 19% to 2,167, missing the FactSet consensus of 2,316. "Our third quarter results showed broad-based improvement in virtually all key operational and financial metrics across our four regions," said Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger. The stock has dropped 13% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has slipped 5.8%.

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