Posted at 10:58 a.m., Tuesday, January 23, 2007
One-time charges depress D.R. Horton earnings
Advertiser Staff
Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. said today its earnings fell sharply in the quarter ending Dec. 31 due to several pre-tax charges that were not present during the same quarter a year earlier.D.R. Horton, which operates in Hawaii as D.R. Horton Schuler Division, earned $109.7 million, or 35 cents a share for the fiscal first quarter, down from $310.1 million, of 98 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier.
Earnings in the most recent quarter were depressed by "pre-tax charges to cost of sales of $40.9 million ($0.08 per diluted share) of inventory impairments and $36.8 million ($0.07 per diluted share) of write-offs of deposits and pre-acquisition costs related to land option contracts that the company does not intend to pursue."
Homebuilding revenue totaled $2.8 billion in the first quarter of both fiscal 2006 and 2007. Homes closed totaled 10,202 homes, compared to 9,891 homes in the year ago quarter. Homes closed totaled 10,202 homes, compared to 9,891 homes in the year earlier quarter.
The company's sales order backlog of homes under contract on Dec. 31 was 16,694 homes ($4.7 billion), compared to 20,816 homes ($6.2 billion) a year earlier. As previously reported, net sales orders for the quarter totaled 8,771 homes ($2.3 billion), compared to 11,463 homes ($3.2 billion) for the year earlier quarter.
