Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury-home builder, reported an unexpected fourth-quarter profit after a tax benefit and decline in writedowns.
Net income in the three months through October was $50.5 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a loss of $111.4 million, or 68 cents, a year earlier, the Horsham, Pa.-based company reported Thursday. Analysts had projected a loss of 7 cents a share, the average of 17 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
The company had its second straight quarterly profit after three years of losses as it recorded a $59.9 million benefit from a tax-law change. U.S. homebuilders have struggled as foreclosures and an unemployment rate near 10 percent stifle demand.
Revenue fell to $402.6 million from $486.6 million a year earlier, Toll Brothers said. The loss from operations, which excludes the tax gain, narrowed to $37.9 million from $105 million a year earlier.
Contracts decline
Toll Brothers signed contracts for 558 homes worth $315.3 million in the quarter, down 27 percent in units and dollars from a year earlier.
Toll Brothers completed sales of 700 homes for an average net price of about $565,000, compared with 860 properties at about $563,000 a year earlier, the company said.
It expects to sell between 2,100 and 2,900 homes in fiscal 2011 at an average price of $540,000 to $565,000. The company sold 2,642 units in the recently ended year, down 11 percent from fiscal 2009.
