UPDATE: D.R. Horton Q1 Profit Beats Expectations

reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company posted quarterly earnings of $142.5 million, or $0.39 per share, compared to $123.2 million, or $0.36 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue surged to $2.25 billion from $1.64 billion, while home sales jumped to $2.24 billion versus $1.63 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.34 per share on revenue of $2.1 billion. Analysts expected home sales of $2.06 billion. Homes closed rose 37% in value to $2.2 billion, while homes closed in number surged 29% to 7,973 in the quarter. D.R. Horton's cancellation rate was 24% in the quarter. At December 31, 2014, its sales order backlog of homes under contract rose 21% to 9,285 homes and 29% in value to $2.7 billion. D.R. Horton ended the quarter with $517.7 million of homebuilding unrestricted cash. It has also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.0625 per common share. Donald R. Horton, Chairman of the Board, said, “Our fiscal 2015 is off to a great start, highlighted by $220.7 million of pre-tax income, on $2.3 billion of revenues. Our position as the largest and most geographically diverse homebuilder provides a strong platform for us to compete for new home sales, evidenced by year-over-year increases in the value of our net sales orders, home sales revenue and sales order backlog of 40%, 37% and 29%, respectively." D.R. Horton shares fell 2.49% to close at $23.10 on Friday.