all these talking heads said there was a bottom 6 months ago...... I say buy, buy, buy..... haha AP Toll Bros. to Miss Earnings Projections Wednesday May 9, 11:13 am ET By Deborah Yao, AP Business Writer Luxury Home Builder Toll Bros. Warns It Won't Meet Prior Earnings Projections PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest builder of luxury homes, on Wednesday warned that it won't meet prior earnings projections, and it placed part of the blame on stricter lending requirements that are tough on buyers who want to upgrade to high-end homes. ADVERTISEMENT In February, the Horsham-based builder had projected 2007 home-building revenue of $4.2 billion to $4.96 billion and net income of $240 million to $305 million, or $1.46 to $1.85 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting profit of $1.41 per share. "Twenty months into this housing downturn, we continue to face difficult conditions in most of our markets," Chief Executive Officer Robert Toll said in a statement. In addition to tighter lending standards, "lack of buyer confidence may have served to impede the glimmers of a rebound we had started to see in early February," he said. Toll Brothers said second-quarter home-building revenue came in at $1.17 billion, which is down 19 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Net signed contracts in the quarter was $1.17 billion, down 25 percent from the prior year. The backlog at the quarter's end fell by 32 percent to $4.15 billion. Cancellations as a percentage of signed contracts fell to 19 percent from 37 percent last year. About 70 percent of the cancellations came from contracts signed over nine months ago. Writedowns before taxes are estimated between $90 million and $130 million. Prior earnings forecasts were based on an expectation of $60 million in writedowns for the entire year. But Toll Brothers said it still expects to post a profit for the second quarter. Bright spots include markets such as metro Philadelphia, in and around New York City, southeastern Connecticut, the Raleigh, N.C., area, parts of Texas and parts of Northern California. The full earnings report will be released on May 24. Shares of Toll Brothers fell 40 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $28.81 in morning trading. http://www.tollbrothers.com/
They missed their own, extraordinarily lowered, guidance. Wow. That's just amazing. They couldn't even beat the artificially low target they set for themselves.