Luxury builder: Home rebound not here yet

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toll Brothers reported a sharp drop in earnings and a mixed outlook Thursday, as the luxury home builder said the battered market for new homes isn't set for a rebound yet.

"There are too many soft markets at this stage of the selling season to call a general upturn in the new home market," Chairman and CEO Robert Toll said in a statement. "Demand varies greatly from week to week in individual markets."

The luxury home builder said it earned $54.3 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter ending Jan. 31, down about two-thirds from the $163.9 million, or 98 cents a share it earned a year earlier. Excluding the write-downs, earnings fell by 27 percent from a year earlier.

It took after-tax charges of $59.0 million, or 36 cents a share, to write down the value of land it holds and said another $60 million in writedowns are expected over the final three quarters of the fiscal year.

Still, it reported the cancellation rate for new home orders improved in the first quarter from the preceding quarter. And the results and guidance were a bit better than analysts had forecast.

Analysts were looking for profits of 29 cents a share for the latest quarter, according to earnings tracker First Call.

Toll Brothers also forecast net income of $1.46 to $1.85 a share for the fiscal year that ends in October. That's well below the $4.17 a share it earned in fiscal 2006, but it's better than the First Call forecast of $1.45 for this year.

The company cut its guidance on homes it expects to deliver to between 6,000 and 7,000 this fiscal year, down 300 from its earlier forecast. It said total home building revenue should be between $4.2 billion and $4.96 billion. First Call's revenue forecast is $4.36 billion.

The weakness reported by Toll Brothers has mirrored results and guidance from the nation's other leading home builders.

Last week KB Home (Charts) reported a net loss of $49.6 million, or 64 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Nov. 30.

Other leading builders reporting weakness in prices and reduced sales include Lennar (Charts), Pulte Home (Charts), Centex (Charts), D.R. Horton (Charts).

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