KB Home reports Q1 EPS $1.45, consensus $1.14

Reports Q1 revenue $1.38B, consensus $1.31B. CEO Jeffrey Mezger says: "We produced solid financial results in the first quarter, with diluted earnings per share that were in-line with the prior-year quarter, despite significantly more challenging housing market conditions. Our revenues were at the high-end of our guidance range and we outperformed both our operating and gross margin expectations. In addition, we further expanded our book value per share, which grew to $44.80, up 27% from a year ago. As we entered the Spring selling season during the quarter, we began to see an increase in demand. This reflected in part the targeted sales strategies we deployed, together with a stabilizing mortgage interest rate environment. As a result, we achieved a sequential improvement in our net orders in both January and February, and net orders have remained strong in the early weeks of March. Although there are still considerable interest rate and economic uncertainties, we are encouraged by this progression."