Toll Bros. has a big quarter despite Sandy

Despite analysts' concerns that Hurricane Sandy could affect its performance, Horsham-based luxury-home builder Toll Bros. ended its fiscal fourth quarter with a net profit of $411.4 million, or $2.35 a share.

In 2011's fourth quarter, net profit was just $15 million or 9 cents a share, the builder reported Tuesday.

"Pent-up demand, rising home prices, low interest rates, and improving consumer confidence motivated buyers to return to the housing market" in 2012, said Douglas C. Yearley Jr., Toll's chief executive officer.

"As household formations accelerated and unsold home inventories dropped to record lows, the industry took further steps toward a sustained housing recovery," Yearley said.

Analysts were concerned about Sandy because more than half of Toll's home sales are generated in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions.

The storm was not mentioned in Toll's earnings report.

Included in the fourth quarter was a net tax benefit of $350.7 million. Net income also included pre-tax inventory writedowns of $1.5 million and $700,000 of cash recoveries of previous joint-venture write-offs.

This compares with pre-tax inventory writedowns of $18.2 million and a $400,000 loss from early repurchase of debt in the 2011 fourth quarter.

Pre-tax income was $60.7 million, compared with $15.3 million in the 2011 fourth quarter.

Revenue was up 48 percent to $632.8 million, and deliveries rose 44 percent to 1,088 units year-over-year, Toll reported.