Lennar Corporation Q1 Earnings Rise; Beats Estimates; Shares Up (LEN)

Shares of Lennar Corporation (LEN) were up on Thursday morning after the company reported increased earnings that beat estimates.

LEN’s Earnings in Brief

LEN posted Q1 earnings of $78.1 million, or 35 cents per share, up from 57.5 million, or 26 cents per share, last year. The most recent quarter included a tax provision of $45.9 million. Revenue jumped to $1.4 billion from $990.24 million last year. On average, analysts estimated earnings of 28 cents per share and $1.28 billion in revenue. LEN reported that its  new orders during the quarter rose 10%, while deliveries increased 13%.

CEO Commentary

Lennar’s CEO Stuart Millar commented:  ”Despite harsh weather conditions that impacted sales and construction during the quarter in some of our markets, we were able to achieve healthy year over year increases in both new orders and deliveries. Additionally, an 18% increase in average sales price and continued momentum from our land acquisition strategy drove gross and operating margin increases by over 300 basis points to 25.1% and 13.2%, respectively, the highest first quarter gross and operating margin in the Company’s history.”

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LEN’s Dividend

LEN paid its last dividend of 4 cents on February 13. We expect the home builder to declare its next dividend in April.

See Also: The History of Home Builder Dividends

Stock Performance 

Lennar Corporation shares were up 86 cents, or 2.08%, during pre-market trading Thursday. The stock is up 4.5% YTD.