PulteGroup (PHM) slips on Q4 revenue, margin miss

Shares of PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) fell 1% in premarket trading Tuesday after the residential home-construction company missed Wall Street’s expectations for Q4 revenue.

Fourth-quarter earnings per share (EPS) were reported at $3.28, down from $3.85 in the year-ago period and above the consensus estimates of $3.21. Revenue came in at $4.29 billion, down 17% year-over-year, and missing the analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion.

The number of homes closed in the quarter stood at 7,615, down 14% from a year earlier, while analysts were looking for 8,026. Net new orders rose 57% YoY to 6,214 and exceeded Wall Street’s estimates of 5,675.

The company’s home sale gross margin fell to 28.9% in Q4 from 29.4% in the year prior.

PulteGroup reported a pretax profit of $946.8 million, 19% lower than in the same quarter last year, though better than the expected $922.5 million.

"After multiple years of variable macroeconomic activity, expectations are that 2024 can be a year of increased homebuying demand given a strong job market, lower interest rates and a limited inventory of existing homes,” said PulteGroup CEO and President Ryan Marshall.

Meanwhile, PulteGroup has also boosted its share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion, bringing the total amount to $1.8 billion.

“Given the record earnings of $11.72 per share and cash flows from operations of $2.2 billion which PulteGroup delivered in fiscal 2023, we are confident in increasing our share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion,” he added.

By Vahid Karaahmetovic

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