By Kristena Hansen | Phoenix Business Journal
Shares of stock for Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes Corp. (NYSE: MTH) were climbing steadily higher Wednesday following the home builder’s strong first-quarter earnings report this morning.
Those earnings boasted a staggering 62 percent spike in revenue, 35 percent jump in orders and a nearly 40 percent surge in closings from a year earlier.
Meritage was trading at $48.54 per share mid afternoon, up 7.65 percent from the previous day’s closing price. That’s knocking on the door of a 52-week high.
The home builder closed the first quarter with revenues around $330 million, up 62 percent from the same time last year, according to the company’s 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
Meritage attributed the revenue jump to the 1,052 homes it closed during the three-month period at an average sales price of $314,000, up 17 percent year-over-year.
The revenue jump and its 19.5 percent home closing gross margin — up from 17.2 percent a year ago — enabled Meritage to rake in around $12 million in net income for the quarter. One year ago, the home builder had taken a $4.8 million loss.
Meritage also opened 24 new communities last quarter, ending the period with 168 active communities.
If you’d like to discuss real estate matters, contact Rose Law Group founder Jordan Rose, jrose@roselawgroup.com
