‘we saw a strong economy’

Lennar Corp (NYSE: LEN) is trading up in extended hours after reporting strong results for its first financial quarter.

Lennar stock up on upbeat guidance

The stock is also being rewarded for the encouraging outlook. Lennar now expects to deliver between 62,000 and 66,000 houses this year, including up to 16,000 in the current quarter.

In comparison, analysts had called for 13,938 deliveries for Q2 and 60,241 deliveries for the full year. In the earnings press release, Chairman Stuart Miller said:

In January and early February, lower interest rates energised sales. In late February, a spike in interest rates impacted website and community traffic and had a slight impact on sales.

Wall Street currently has an “overweight” rating on Lennar stock that’s now up more than 10% versus the start of 2023.

Key figures in Lennar’s Q1 earnings report

• Net income printed at $596.5 million versus the year-ago $503.6 million
• Per-share earnings also climbed significantly from $1.69 to $2.06
• Revenue went up nearly 5.0% year-over-year to $6.49 billion
• Consensus was $1.55 of per-share earnings on $5.91 billion in revenue
• Home deliveries jumped 9.0% to 13,659 – also better than expected

What else was noteworthy?

Other notable figures in the earnings report include a 29% decline in backlog to 19,403 homes. Chairman Miller added:

During the quarter, we saw a generally strong economy at the intersection of high inflation and strong employment numbers, while the housing market continued down a winding road of trying to find its footing.

Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics said inflation stood at 6.0% year-over-year in February – in line with expectations, as Invezz reported HERE.