Beazer Homes USA Q2 Loss Narrows - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH) reported that its net loss for the second-quarter ended March 31, 2015 narrowed to $1.996 million from $7.971 million in the same quarter last year. Loss per share was $0.08, compared to a loss of $0.31 prior year.

Net loss from continuing operations was $2.1 million, compared with a net loss of $8.2 million last year.

New home orders grew 22.2 percent for the quarter with an average active community count that was 14.3 percent higher than a year ago. Absorption rates were especially strong at 3.5 sales per community per month for the quarter, while the average selling price ("ASP") from closings increased 12.3 percent to $305.8 thousand, the highest ASP for any quarter in the Company's history. Backlog at March 31, 2015 consisted of 2,533 homes with a value of $814.1 million, up 27.8 percent versus last year.

Total revenue for the quarter grew to $299.36 million from $270.02 million in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.14 per share and revenues of $293.56 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

"Driven by job growth, strong affordability and low inventory levels, the selling environment during our fiscal second quarter reflected an improvement in homebuyer demand. With our substantially larger backlog, stable gross margins and fixed cost leverage, we expect to achieve a $20 million improvement in Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2015 versus last year, excluding certain unexpected warranty and litigation settlement costs." said Allan Merrill, CEO of Beazer Homes.