KB Home expects 2022 revenue to increase 30% year over year.
KB Home’s (KBH) – Get KB Home Report fourth-quarter results and guidance have the stock climbing as a red-hot U.S. housing market is expected to continue into 2022.
The Los Angeles homebuilder reported fourth-quarter earnings rose 71% to $1.91 a share from $1.12 a share in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue of $1.68 billion was up 40% from $1.19 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $1.77 a share on revenue of $1.71 billion.
“During the past year, we significantly expanded our production capabilities as we scale our business to meet the healthy demand that is driving the housing market and align our starts to net orders,” Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement.
The company said it worked through “challenging” operating conditions in 2021 including “labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, along with municipal and related delays.”
For this year, KB Home said it expected revenue between $7.2 billion and $7.6 billion. At the range’s midpoint, that’s a potential increase of about 30% over its 2021 revenue. Analysts are expecting revenue of $7.4 billion.
Home prices jumped as much as 20% in 2021, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as an estimated 6 million homes were sold in 2021, a 15-year high, according to CNN.
“Our nearly $5 billion in backlog value and projected substantial year-over-year increase in community count support significant revenue growth this year,” Mezger said.
The company delivered 28% more homes in the quarter than it did in the year-earliier period. Its housing gross-profit margin widened 2.3 percentage points to 22.3%. KB said that the profit margin improvement reflected favorable pricing stemming from strong demand.
Shares of KB Home at last check jumped 13% to $47.80.
