Zacks.com Features the Following Top Stocks in the Home Construction Industry: Hovnanian Enterprises, KB Home, Toll Brothers, and D.R. Horton

Business Wire, April 25, 2005

CHICAGO -- The homebuilding industry has slowed a bit from its record pace, but remains above historical levels. It's not too late to get involved and the All Stars have several selections to lay a solid foundation. Read about Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV), KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL), and D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI). Discover the full story at Zacks.com http://at.zacks.com/?id=96

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Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.'s (NYSE:HOV) attractive land position, solid housing markets and sound operating strategies all helped the company put together a strong fiscal first quarter, which included earnings per share of $1.25 on total revenues of $1.1 billion. The earnings result compared favorably to the year-ago performance of only 87 cents as revenues advanced from $775.2 million. The dollar value of net contracts jumped 13% to $1 billion on 3,240 homes, including unconsolidated joint ventures, versus $916 million on 3,225 homes a year earlier. The company is so confident in the future that it decided to raise its earnings per share guidance for fiscal 2005.

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) prides itself on being able to capitalize on growth opportunities in its 36 major markets. It's certainly difficult to disagree with that assessment after viewing its fiscal first quarter results. Diluted earnings per share surged 61% to $2.82, compared to $1.75 in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, total revenues advanced 21% to $1.64 billion, as unit deliveries rose 11% to 6,847 and the average selling price moved forward 10% to $236,000. Due to its strong first quarter, rising backlog levels and positive outlook for the rest of 2005, KB Home decided to raise its earnings guidance for 2005 to $15.75 per diluted share, which would mark a 38% rise from 2004.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL): Strong pricing power and increasing profit margins aided Toll Brothers' fiscal first quarter performance. Earnings per share surged 120% to $1.33, which was also enough for a positive earnings surprise of more than 16%. Revenues jumped 67% to $999.1 million. Contracts in the quarter reached $1.44 billion, or 2,173 homes, marking a rise of 60% from the previous year's $902.8 million, or 1,512 homes. Quarter-end backlog reached $4.89 billion, or 7,292 homes, versus $2.95 billion, or 5,079 homes, marking an advance of 66%. All of the above-mentioned measures marked records for Toll Brothers. The company expects fiscal 2006 to be another record year and raised its fiscal year 2005 deliveries guidance to between 8,050 and 8,400 homes.

D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) builds high quality, single-family homes designed principally for the entry-level and move-up markets. D.R. Horton posted another solid performance for is fiscal second quarter, which included earnings per share of 92 cents on consolidated revenue of $2.9 billion. That earnings result topped both the year-ago result of 60 cents and the consensus estimate at 80 cents, while revenues jumped 23%. Homes closed advanced 8% to 10,601 homes. D.R. Horton also raised its guidance for fiscal year 2005 to between $3.95 and $4, which would mark a 28% to 29% improvement over that of fiscal 2004.

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