Green Brick reports 1Q EPS $1.37, consensus 66c

Reports Q1 revenue $ $452.06M, consensus $245.62M."We are pleased to report that Green Brick kicked off 2023 with the best first quarter results in our history. We delivered 761 homes which was a record for any first quarter. Home closings revenue increased 24% year-over-year to $449 million. We were able to sustain a high homebuilding gross margin of 27.6%, which was one of the highest among public homebuilders in the first quarter and is up 140 bps sequentially," said Jim Brickman, CEO and Co-Founder. "As a result, our earnings per diluted share grew 14% to $1.37 for the quarter." "More importantly, sales momentum during the first quarter was exceptionally strong. Despite a stormy housing environment, net sales accelerated across all our builder brands and were up 78% year-over-year and 152% sequentially to 1,067 homes, the second highest quarter in company history. Not only did we see strong demand in move-in ready homes, but we also experienced a resurgence of orders for build jobs and demand for homes in early construction stages. Our quarterly absorption rate surged to its highest level ever of 13.3 homes per active selling community. Furthermore, our cancellation rate improved significantly by 14 percentage points from last quarter to 6.2%, the lowest among public homebuilders. As a result, our backlog increased 49% sequentially to $551M, and spec percentage of units under construction decreased to a more desirable level of 59%. Due to the strength in our sales pace, we reduced incentives in some communities, selectively raised prices and started metering sales in a few communities. We believe our presence in infill locations will continue to differentiate us from the industry and allow us to generate superior results," continued Mr. Brickman.