UPDATE: Lennar Q1 Profit Tops Estimates

Shares of

surged more than 1.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The Miami, Florida-based company posted quarterly earnings of $245.3 million, or $1.07 per share, compared to $164.1 million, or $0.73 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Its revenue climbed to $2.583 billion from $1.915 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.96 per share on revenue of $2.59 billion. New orders for homes gained 22% in the quarter, while the backlog for homes rose 21%. Deliveries rose 23% to 6,950 homes. Gross margin on home sales widened 40 basis points versus the third quarter, while it shrank 120 basis points versus the year-ago period. Lennar Homebuilding operating earnings rose to $375.1 million from $294.2 million, while Lennar Financial Services operating earnings climbed to $30.2 million from $17.0 million. Operating earnings for the Rialto segment surged to $38.2 million from $13.9 million, while operating loss for the Lennar Multifamily segment narrowed to $6.1 million from $6.5 million. Stuart Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Lennar Corporation, said, "As the housing market has continued its slow but steady recovery, we are extremely pleased with our fourth quarter and fiscal 2014 results, as we achieved a 50% and 33% year-over-year increase in net earnings, respectively. The recovery has been, and will continue to be, driven forward by years of production deficit that has limited supply in both the "for sale" and "for rent" markets, while it has been constrained by reduced access to credit availability." Lennar shares rose 1.55% to $46.47 in pre-market trading.