Investors | News Releases | Beazer Homes Reports Record Fourth Quarter EPS of $3.61, up 98%; Company Issues Outlook for Diluted EPS of $10.50 for Fiscal Year 2006

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Beazer Homes Reports Record Fourth Quarter EPS of $3.61, up 98%; Company Issues Outlook for Diluted EPS of $10.50 for Fiscal Year 2006

November 2, 2005 at 7:02 AM EST

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2005--Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) (www.beazer.com) today announced results for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, reporting a record for quarterly earnings per share. Highlights of both the quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2005, compared to the same periods of the prior year, are as follows:

    Quarter Ended September 30, 2005

    --  Net income of $164.4 million, or $3.61 per diluted share (up
        105.3% and 98.4%, respectively)
    --  Home closings: 6,339 (up 24.3%)
    --  Total revenues: $1.8 billion (up 49.8%)
    --  Gross margin from home construction: 23.9% (up 350 basis
        points)
    --  Operating income margin: 14.1% (up 350 basis points)
    --  New orders: 4,937 homes (up 15.5%), sales value $1.4 billion
        (up 25.1%)

    Year Ended September 30, 2005

    --  Reported net income of $262.5 million, or $5.87 per diluted
        share, including the non-cash goodwill impairment charge of
        $130.2 million incurred in Q2 2005.
    --  Adjusted net income of $392.8 million, or $8.72 per diluted
        share, excluding the Q2 2005 non-cash goodwill impairment
        charge (up 66.6% and 56.0%, respectively).
    --  Home closings: 18,146 (up 10.3%)
    --  Total revenues: $5.0 billion (up 27.9%)
    --  Gross margin from home construction: 22.6% (up 290 basis
        points)
    --  Operating income margin: 9.7%
    --  Adjusted operating income margin, excluding the Q2 2005
        non-cash goodwill impairment charge: 12.4% (up 270 basis
        points)
    --  New orders: 18,923 (up 8.2%)
    --  Backlog at 9/30/05: 9,233 homes (up 9.2%), sales value $2.72
        billion (up 21.7%)

    Record September Quarter

"We are pleased to report that Beazer Homes finished the year with extremely strong results, once again surpassing numerous milestones," said President and Chief Executive Officer, Ian J. McCarthy. "We generated annual revenues of $5 billion on home closings of 18,146, up 28% and 10% from fiscal 2004, respectively, and both representing all-time company records. For the September quarter, net earnings more than doubled to $164.4 million and revenues increased nearly 50% to $1.8 billion. We believe these results, coupled with strong new order growth of 16%, reflect successful execution of our profitable growth initiatives. Furthermore, Beazer Homes believes its ongoing commitment to achieving increasingly profitable growth by leveraging its size, scale and geographic reach through its national brand will position the company well to take full advantage of the favorable long-term environment for the industry."

"Beazer Homes' backlog now stands at a fourth quarter record level of 9,233 homes with a sales value of $2.72 billion, up 9% and 22%, respectively, from the backlog homes and sales value a year ago. We believe this sizeable year-end backlog provides the basis for continued strong financial performance in fiscal 2006" added McCarthy.

Closings of 6,339 homes represents a quarterly record and resulted from year-over-year increases in all regions except the Midwest, where increased closings in Ohio and Kentucky were offset by a decline in Indiana.

The growth in new home orders for the quarter resulted from increases in all regions except the West. In the West, community opening delays in Nevada and California resulted in fewer available sales opportunities during the period than previously expected.

Strong Financial Performance in September Quarter

"We achieved record earnings and greatly improved margins this quarter as our on-going focus on profitable growth and heightened attention to backlog conversion yielded significant returns," said James O'Leary, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "Substantially increased margins for the quarter resulted from our continued execution of specific strategic initiatives focused on maximizing profitability and organic growth."

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, the company realized increases over the prior year in its home construction gross margin, total gross margin and operating income margin of 350 basis points, 340 basis points, and 350 basis points, respectively, as the company continued to realize benefits from the execution of its profitable growth strategy. Margins were also favorably impacted by continued strong pricing in most major markets. In the prior year fourth fiscal quarter, the company incurred warranty costs associated with Trinity Homes, LLC and increased marketing costs associated with the company's branding initiative, totaling in the aggregate $18.5 million, and having an impact of approximately 150 basis points on operating margin. Also, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, the company benefited from a favorable tax adjustment which reduced tax expense by approximately $4.0 million or $0.09 per diluted share.

Fiscal 2006 EPS Outlook

"Our strong level of backlog, coupled with our current expectations for further competitive advantages for large public builders such as Beazer Homes provide us confidence in our future growth opportunities," said McCarthy. "In addition, we expect continued execution of our profitable growth strategy to capitalize on our broad geographic profile through focused product expansion, leveraging our national brand and achieving optimal efficiencies, will result in continued growth and meaningfully enhanced shareholder value. As such, our initial outlook for fiscal 2006 diluted earnings per share is $10.50 per share, representing growth of 20% over adjusted earnings per share of $8.72 in fiscal 2005. In addition, we are presently evaluating our capital allocation strategies, including our existing share repurchase authorization of approximately 2.0 million shares, within the current environment in order to optimize the utilization of our capital resources. Any impact this evaluation would have on our outlook will be addressed prospectively."

Conference Call

The company will hold a conference call today, November 2, 2005, at 1:00 PM ET to discuss the results and take questions. You may listen to the conference call and view the company's slide presentation over the internet by going to the "Investor Relations" section of the company's website at www.beazer.com. To access the conference call by telephone, listeners should dial 800-369-1904. To be admitted to the call, verbally supply the passcode "BZH". A replay of the call will be available shortly after the conclusion of the live call. To directly access the replay, dial 800-846-6092 (available until 5:00 PM ET on November 9, 2005), or visit www.beazer.com.

Beazer Homes USA, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, is one of the country's ten largest single-family homebuilders with operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia and also provides mortgage origination and title services to its homebuyers. Beazer Homes, a Fortune 500 company, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BZH."

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

In addition to the results in this press release reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"), the Company has provided information regarding adjusted operating income margin, net income and earnings per share which excludes the effects of the non-cash goodwill impairment charge recorded during the second quarter of fiscal 2005. Management believes that these adjusted financial results are useful to both management and investors in the analysis of the Company's financial performance when comparing it to prior periods and that they provide investors with an important perspective on the current underlying operating performance of the business by isolating the impact of a non-cash adjustment related to a previous acquisition.

Below is a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP:

                                                        Twelve Months
                                                            Ended
                                                        September 30,
                                                            2005
                                                       ---------------
(in thousands, except per share data)

Reported operating income                              $      486,918
Total revenues                                         $    4,995,353
Reported operating income margin                                  9.7%

Adjusted operating income margin
Reported operating income                              $      486,918
Goodwill impairment loss                                      130,235
                                                       ---------------
Operating income, excluding goodwill impairment loss   $      617,153
                                                       ===============
Operating income margin, excluding goodwill impairment
 loss                                                            12.4%

Reported net income                                    $      262,524
Reported net income per common share                   $         5.87

Adjusted Net Income and Earnings Per Share:
Reported net income                                    $      262,524
Goodwill impairment loss                                      130,235
                                                       ---------------
Net income, excluding goodwill impairment loss         $      392,759
                                                       ===============

After-tax interest add-back to pro-forma net income
 for 'if converted' treatment of convertible notes in
 calculation of diluted net income per common share    $        5,325

Diluted net income per common share, excluding
 goodwill impairment loss                              $         8.72

Diluted weighted average shares outstanding                    45,634

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, fluctuations in interest rates, increases in raw materials and labor costs, levels of competition, potential liability as a result of construction defect, product liability and warranty claims, the possibility that the company's improvement plan for the Midwest and strategies to broaden target price points and lessen dependence on the entry-level segment in certain markets will not achieve desired results, and other factors described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2004, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2005 and Form S-4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 3, 2005.

                        BEAZER HOMES USA, INC.
               CONSOLIDATED OPERATING AND FINANCIAL DATA
           (Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

FINANCIAL DATA
----------------------
                            Quarter Ended            Year Ended
                            September 30,           September 30,
                       ----------------------- -----------------------
                          2005        2004        2005        2004
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
INCOME STATEMENT
Revenues               $1,814,051  $1,211,141  $4,995,353  $3,907,109
Costs and expenses:
  Home construction
   and land sales       1,367,189     953,898   3,823,300   3,099,732
  Selling, general and
   administrative
   expense                191,345     129,042     554,900     429,442
  Goodwill impairment
   charge                       -           -     130,235           -
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Operating income          255,517     128,201     486,918     377,935
Equity in income
 (loss) of
 unconsolidated joint
 ventures                   1,871        (187)      5,021       1,561
Other income                2,408       3,276       7,395       7,079
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Income before income
 taxes                    259,796     131,290     499,334     386,575
Income taxes               95,372      51,203     236,810     150,764
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Net income             $  164,424  $   80,087  $  262,524  $  235,811
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========

Net income per common
 share:
  Basic                $     4.04  $     2.02  $     6.49  $     5.91
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
  Diluted              $     3.61  $     1.82  $     5.87  $     5.59
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
Weighted average
 shares outstanding,
 in thousands:
  Basic                    40,669      39,723      40,468      39,879
  Diluted                  45,935      44,746      45,634      42,485

Interest incurred      $   25,409  $   21,163  $   89,678  $   76,035
Interest amortized to
 cost of sales         $   27,508  $   20,016  $   82,388  $   66,199
EPS interest add back
 - Convertible Debt    $    1,332  $    1,315  $    5,325  $    1,616
Depreciation and
 amortization          $    5,863  $    3,655  $   21,174  $   15,755

SELECTED BALANCE SHEET      September 30,
 DATA                     2005        2004
                       ----------- -----------
Cash                   $  297,098  $  320,880
Inventory               2,901,165   2,344,095
Total assets            3,770,516   3,163,030
Total debt              1,321,936   1,150,972
Shareholders' equity    1,504,688   1,232,121



                        BEAZER HOMES USA, INC.
         CONSOLIDATED OPERATING AND FINANCIAL DATA (Continued)
                        (Dollars in thousands)

OPERATING DATA
----------------------
                            Quarter Ended            Year Ended
                            September 30,           September 30,
                       ----------------------- ----------- -----------
SELECTED OPERATING
 DATA                     2005        2004        2005        2004
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Closings:
  Southeast region          2,440       1,782       6,366       5,576
  West region               1,906       1,700       6,230       5,880
  Central region              561         356       1,427       1,020
  Mid-Atlantic region         695         489       1,870       1,583
  Midwest region              737         771       2,253       2,392
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total closings              6,339       5,098      18,146      16,451
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
New orders, net of
 cancellations:
  Southeast region          2,044       1,548       6,811       5,884
  West region               1,344       1,571       6,207       6,733
  Central region              454         220       1,513       1,053
  Mid-Atlantic region         434         367       2,016       1,513
  Midwest region              661         570       2,376       2,298
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total new orders            4,937       4,276      18,923      17,481
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
Backlog units at end
 of period:
  Southeast region          3,074       2,629
  West region               3,117       3,140
  Central region              515         429
  Mid-Atlantic region       1,193       1,047
  Midwest region            1,334       1,211
                       ----------- -----------
Total backlog units         9,233       8,456
                       =========== ===========
Dollar value of
 backlog at end of
 period                $2,721,744  $2,235,917
                       =========== ===========
Active subdivisions:
  Southeast region            160         177
  West region                 106          90
  Central region               51          43
  Mid-Atlantic region          65          57
  Midwest region              136         129
                       ----------- -----------
Total active
 subdivisions                 518         496
                       =========== ===========



                        BEAZER HOMES USA, INC.
         CONSOLIDATED OPERATING AND FINANCIAL DATA (Continued)
                        (Dollars in thousands)

                            Quarter Ended            Year Ended
                            September 30,           September 30,
                       ----------------------- -----------------------
SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL
 DATA:                    2005        2004        2005        2004
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Revenues
  Home sales           $1,796,491  $1,187,246  $4,922,793  $3,824,142
  Land and lot sales        4,760      12,566      34,527      44,702
  Mortgage origination
   revenue                 18,438      15,169      54,310      51,140
  Intercompany
   elimination
   - mortgage              (5,638)     (3,840)    (16,277)    (12,875)
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total revenues         $1,814,051  $1,211,141  $4,995,353  $3,907,109
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
Cost of home
 construction and land
 sales
  Home sales           $1,367,356  $  944,774  $3,810,123  $3,069,976
  Land and lot sales        5,471      12,964      29,454      42,631
  Intercompany
   elimination
   - mortgage              (5,638)     (3,840)    (16,277)    (12,875)
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total costs of home
 construction and land
 sales                 $1,367,189  $  953,898  $3,823,300  $3,099,732
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========
Selling, general and
 administrative
  Homebuilding
   operations          $  178,653  $  120,091  $  516,217  $  397,601
  Mortgage origination
   operations              12,692       8,951      38,683      31,841
                       ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Total selling, general
 and administrative      $191,345    $129,042    $554,900    $429,442
                       =========== =========== =========== ===========

CONTACT: Beazer Homes USA, Inc., Atlanta
Leslie H. Kratcoski, 770-829-3764
lkratcos@beazer.com
www.beazer.com

SOURCE: Beazer Homes USA, Inc.