Reuters
The New York Times
KB Home, the house building company, posted an unexpected quarterly profit on Friday and said its backlog of revenue from houses under construction rose to its highest level since the peak of the financial crisis.
KB Home earned $3.3 million, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $425 million, in the third quarter. Analysts on average expected a loss of 16 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters. A year earlier, KB Home lost $9.6 million, or $13 cents a share, on sales of $367 million.
The company said potential future housing revenue in its backlog as of Aug. 31 rose 33 percent, to $744.7 million. Net orders at KB Home increased 3 percent for the second consecutive quarter, to 1,900 homes in the three months ended in August, and rose 16 percent in value to $493.3 million. Stock in KB Home, which is based in Los Angeles, rose $2.15, or 16 percent, to $15.26 a share.
