Lennar beats 1Q profit forecasts on home sales boost

Lennar Corp. reported higher earnings for its fiscal first-quarter, beating expectations as homes sold increased and sales prices rose.

Shares of the Miami-based company rose more than 3 percent in trading Tuesday, closing up $1.48 at $48.18.

The homebuilder reported a 25 percent boost in profit to $144.1 million, or 63 cents per share, up from $115 million, or 50 cents per share, a year ago.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 52 cents per share.

The company posted a 21 percent boost in revenue to $1.99 billion in the period.

The bulk of that revenue increase came from a 25 percent increase in home sales to $1.8 billion. The number of home sales rose 12 percent to 4,806 homes during the period. The average sales price of homes delivered rose 11.9 percent to $365,000.

Associated Press

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Lennar beats 1Q profit forecasts on home sales boost."