Lennar Reports 3rd Quarter EPS of $1.59.

MIAMI, Oct:

Net earnings of $513.4 million, or $1.59 per diluted share, compared to net earnings of $453.2 million, or $1.37 per diluted share

Deliveries of 13,522 homes - up 7%

New orders of 13,369 homes - up 9%; new orders dollar value of $5.2 billion - up 3%

Backlog of 18,908 homes - down 2%; backlog dollar value of $7.6 billion - down 9%

Revenues of $5.9 billion - up 3%

Homebuilding operating margins of $657.1 million, compared to $614.7 million

Gross margin on home sales of 20.4%, compared to 20.3%

S,G&A expenses as a % of revenues from home sales of 8.3%, compared to 8.5%

Operating margin on home sales of 12.0%, compared to 11.7%

Financial Services operating earnings (net of noncontrolling interests) of $78.8 million, compared to $60.5 million

Multifamily operating earnings (net of noncontrolling interests) of $10.5 million, compared to operating loss of $3.9 million

Lennar Other operating earnings (net of noncontrolling interests) of $15.9 million, compared to $10.1 million

Homebuilding cash and cash equivalents of $795 million

Homebuilding debt to total capital of 37.1%

Retired $500 million of homebuilding senior notes

Repurchased 6.1 million shares for $295.9 million, bringing year-to-date total to 8.1 million shares for $394.7 million

Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN and LEN.B), one of the nation's leading homebuilders, today reported results for its third quarter ended August 31, 2019. Third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2019 were $513.4 million, or $1.59 per diluted share, compared to third quarter net earnings attributable to Lennar in 2018 of $453.2 million, or $1.37 per diluted share.

Stuart Miller, Executive Chairman of Lennar, said, "We are pleased to announce our results for the third quarter where we achieved net earnings of $513.4 million, or $1.59 per diluted share, compared to $453.2 million, or $1.37 per diluted share in the prior year. As the market continued to solidify through the third quarter, stimulating both the affordability and demand for homes, our new orders and deliveries increased 9% and 7%, respectively, from the prior year. Our homebuilding gross margin in the third quarter was 20.4%, while our SG&A of 8.3% marked an all-time, third-quarter low. We continue to believe that the basic underlying housing market fundamentals of low unemployment, higher wages and low inventory levels remain favorable."

Mr. Miller continued, "Our intense operational focus on our homebuilding machine, together with our strategic land program, drove solid homebuilding cash flow, which is trending towards $1.5 billion for fiscal 2019. We have paid off $1.6 billion of senior notes since the acquisition of CalAtlantic and will pay off another $600 million of senior notes in November 2019. In addition, we repurchased 6.1 million of the Company's shares in the third quarter for $296 million and 14.1 million shares for $645 million over the last twelve months. Strong cash flows, debt paydowns and stock buybacks will continue to drive greater returns on equity and capital.

"Against that backdrop, our technology initiatives have continued to contribute to our bottom-line performance, driving our SG&A leverage to historically low levels. Our financial services business has also benefitted from our technology initiatives, driving in part the segment's third quarter earnings of $78.8 million, which outperformed the high end of our earnings guidance by 44%."

Rick Beckwitt, Chief Executive Officer of Lennar, said, "We've clearly focused our attention on becoming a land lighter company. Regarding our forward-looking 40% goal of controlled homesites (versus owned), during the quarter, we made great progress by increasing our controlled homesites from 25% to 30%. We expect to continue making significant progress on this goal by entering into deals with regional and national land platforms. During the quarter, we also made progress on reducing our years owned supply of homesites from 4.5 to 4.4 years and continue to target a goal of 3.0 years. As we reach these goals, it will enable us to generate significant cash flow by reducing our land spend, driving meaningfully greater returns over time."

Jon Jaffe, President of Lennar, said, "We continue to focus on our SG&A leverage by making our homebuilding machine more efficient. We have used our technology initiatives to redefine the way we build and sell our homes resulting in enhanced leverage. We also remain laser focused on reducing our construction costs. In the third quarter, our homebuilding gross margin percentage increased sequentially 30 basis points primarily due to direct cost savings."

Mr. Miller concluded, "We remain intensely focused on our strategy of generating stronger cash flow as we look to build on the progress we made during the...