ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 28, 2022-- Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) (www.beazer.com) today announced its financial results for the three and six months ended March 31, 2022.

“We generated very strong second quarter financial results,” said Allan P. Merrill, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Increases in both home prices and margins allowed us to significantly improve profitability despite continuing supply chain challenges. We also increased our lot position and reduced leverage as we continued to demonstrate positive results from our Balanced Growth strategy.”

Commenting on market conditions and updated fiscal 2022 full-year expectations, Mr. Merrill said, “While supply chain challenges are expected to continue to impact the level of housing starts and construction cycle times, the larger issue is worsening home affordability as both home prices and mortgage rates have moved higher this year. Although new home orders have not been significantly impacted to date, we expect future periods to present a more challenging sales environment.

However, with the size of our backlog, we have excellent visibility into full year financial results. We now expect to generate fiscal year 2022 earnings per share of at least $6.00, inclusive of previously disclosed tax benefits of approximately $0.40 per share. We also expect to reduce debt below $1 billion by year end, even as we further expand our active lot position.”

Looking further out, Mr. Merrill concluded, “We remain confident in the multi-year growth of our business and the new home industry. The fundamental disconnect between the demand for homes and the likely supply of homes – which has given rise to a multimillion home deficit over the past decade – remains in place. As such, we expect to be able to work through affordability challenges to deliver improving profitability and returns from our less leveraged and more efficient balance sheet, while expanding our ESG activities to create durable value for all of our stakeholders.”

Beazer Homes Fiscal Second Quarter 2022 Highlights and Comparison to Fiscal Second Quarter 2021

• Net income from continuing operations of $44.7 million, or $1.45 per diluted share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $24.6 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, in fiscal second quarter 2021
• Adjusted EBITDA of $77.4 million, up 20.5%
• Homebuilding revenue of $507.2 million, down 7.3% on a 22.3% decrease in home closings to 1,078, partially offset by a 19.3% increase in average selling price to $470.5 thousand
• Homebuilding gross margin was 23.5%, up 570 basis points. Excluding impairments, abandonments and amortized interest, homebuilding gross margin was 26.8%, up 460 basis points
• SG&A as a percentage of total revenue was 12.2%, up 120 basis points year-over-year
• Net new orders of 1,291, down 30.4% on a 9.2% decrease in average community count to 119 and a 23.4% decrease in orders/community/month to 3.6
• Backlog dollar value of $1,583.5 million, up 14.2% on a 20.9% increase in average selling price of homes in backlog to $507.4 thousand, partially offset by a 5.5% decrease in backlog units to 3,121
• Controlled lots of 23,516, up 24.7% from 18,851
• Land acquisition and land development spending was $132.6 million, up 36.3% from $97.3 million
• Repurchased a total of $6.0 million of debt
• Unrestricted cash at quarter end was $163.9 million; total liquidity was $413.9 million

The following provides additional details on the Company's performance during the fiscal second quarter 2022:

Profitability. Net income from continuing operations was $44.7 million, generating diluted earnings per share of $1.45. This included the impact of energy efficiency tax credits of $3.0 million, or $0.10 per share. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA of $77.4 million was up $13.2 million, or 20.5%, year-over-year. The increase in profitability was primarily driven by higher homebuilding gross margin.

Orders. Net new orders for the second quarter decreased to 1,291, down 30.4% from 1,854 in the prior year period. The decrease in net new orders was driven by a 9.2% decrease in average community count to 119 and a 23.4% decrease in sales pace to 3.6 orders per community per month, down from 4.7 in the prior year period, as the Company proactively limited sales pace to align with the pace of production, manage lot supply, optimize margins and ensure a positive customer experience. Sales pace remained strong compared to the historical average of 3.4 over the last 10 years for the second quarter. The cancellation rate for the quarter was 12.2%, up from 10.0% in the prior year period.

Backlog. The dollar value of homes in backlog as of March 31, 2022 increased 14.2% to $1,583.5 million, representing 3,121 homes, compared to $1,386.4 million, representing 3,303 homes, at the same time last year. The average selling price of homes in backlog was $507.4 thousand, up 20.9% versus the previous year.

Homebuilding Revenue. Second quarter homebuilding revenue was $507.2 million, down 7.3% year-over-year. The decrease in homebuilding revenue was driven by a 22.3% decrease in home closings to 1,078 homes, partially offset by a 19.3% increase in the average selling price to $470.5 thousand.

Homebuilding Gross Margin. Homebuilding gross margin (excluding impairments, abandonments and amortized interest) was 26.8% for the second quarter, up 460 basis points year-over-year, driven primarily by pricing increases and lower sales incentives.

SG&A Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue was 12.2% for the quarter, up 120 basis points year-over-year primarily due to decreases in closings and revenue. SG&A on an absolute dollar basis increased by $1.5 million, or 2.4%, year-over-year primarily due to increased personnel expense.

Land Position. Controlled lots increased 24.7% to 23,516, compared to 18,851 in the prior year. Excluding land held for future development and land held for sale lots, active controlled lots were 22,728, up 24.7% year-over-year. The Company had 11,551 lots, or 50.8% of its total active lots, under option contracts compared to 8,381 lots, or 46.0% of its total active lots, under option contracts a year ago.

Debt Repurchases. The Company repurchased $6.0 million of its outstanding 5.875% unsecured Senior Notes due October 2027 at an average price of $101.888 per $100 principal amount.

Liquidity. At the close of the second quarter, the Company had approximately $413.9 million of available liquidity, including $163.9 million of unrestricted cash and a fully undrawn revolving credit facility capacity of $250.0 million.

Imagine Homes Acquisition

The Company also announced today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Imagine Homes, a private San Antonio-based homebuilder. Imagine Homes, a champion of green building practices since its inception in 2006, has been recognized as a leader in energy efficient new construction, earning local and national accolades including the EPA’s Energy Star Certified Homes Market Leader Award and six NAHB Green Building Awards^TM. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For the past 16 years, Beazer has held a one-third ownership stake in Imagine Homes. The transaction reiterates Beazer’s commitment to leading the industry in energy efficiency initiatives and expands the Company’s footprint in Texas, which already includes the Dallas and Houston markets.

Commitment to ESG

In December 2021, the Company published its inaugural ESG Summary, which contains detailed disclosures of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, as well as metrics that are responsive to sustainability accounting standards promulgated by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) for companies within the homebuilding industry. The ESG Summary represents another step forward in the Company's commitment to increased ESG accountability and provides a foundation to build increased transparency by directly reporting on relevant sustainability issues, risks and opportunities that impact the business.

Demonstrating recognition for the Company's efforts to create and sustain a strong reputation among employees, shareholders, customers and other partners, Beazer Homes was ranked first among construction companies in Newsweek's inaugural list of America's Most Trusted Companies 2022. This award was presented to the Company in April 2022 by Newsweek and Statista Inc. America's Most Trusted Companies 2022 were identified based on an independent survey of approximately 50,000 U.S. residents who rated companies they knew from the perspective of customers, investors and employees.

Summary results for the three and six months ended March 31, 2022 are as follows:

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call on April 28, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss these results. Interested parties may listen to the conference call and view the Company's slide presentation on the "Investor Relations" page of the Company's website, www.beazer.com. In addition, the conference call will be available by telephone at 800-475-0542 (for international callers, dial 517-308-9429). To be admitted to the call, enter the pass code “8571348". A replay of the conference call will be available, until 10:00 PM ET on May 5, 2022 at 866-511-1891 (for international callers, dial 203-369-1946) with pass code “3740.”

About Beazer Homes

Headquartered in Atlanta, Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) is one of the country’s largest homebuilders. Every Beazer home is designed and built to provide Surprising Performance, giving you more quality and more comfort from the moment you move in – saving you money every month. With Beazer's Choice Plans™, you can personalize your primary living areas – giving you a choice of how you want to live in the home, at no additional cost. And unlike most national homebuilders, we empower our customers to shop and compare loan options. Our Mortgage Choice program gives you the resources to easily compare multiple loan offers and choose the best lender and loan offer for you, saving you thousands over the life of your loan.

We build our homes in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. For more information, visit beazer.com, or check out Beazer on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations or beliefs concerning future events, and it is possible that the results described in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things: (i) the cyclical nature of the homebuilding industry and a potential deterioration in homebuilding industry conditions; (ii) increases in mortgage interest rates and reduced availability of mortgage financing due to, among other factors, recent and likely continued actions by the Federal Reserve to address sharp increases in inflation; (iii) other economic changes nationally and in local markets, including changes in consumer confidence, wage levels, declines in employment levels, and an increase in the number of foreclosures, each of which is outside our control and affects the affordability of, and demand for, the homes we sell; (iv) potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, in addition to exacerbating each of the risks listed above and below, may include a significant decrease in demand for our homes or consumer confidence generally with respect to purchasing a home, an inability to sell and build homes in a typical manner or at all, increased costs or decreased supply of building materials, including lumber, or the availability of subcontractors, housing inspectors, and other third-parties we rely on to support our operations, and recognizing charges in future periods, which may be material, for goodwill impairments, inventory impairments and/or land option contract abandonments; (v) supply chain challenges negatively impacting our homebuilding production, including shortages of raw materials and other critical components such as windows, doors, and appliances; (vi) shortages of or increased costs for labor used in housing production, and the level of quality and craftsmanship provided by such labor; (vii) the availability and cost of land and the risks associated with the future value of our inventory, such as asset impairment charges we took on select California assets during the second quarter of fiscal 2019; (viii) factors affecting margins, such as decreased land values underlying land option agreements, increased land development costs in communities under development or delays or difficulties in implementing initiatives to reduce our production and overhead cost structure; (ix) our ability to raise debt and/or equity capital, due to factors such as limitations in the capital markets (including market volatility) or adverse credit market conditions, and our ability to otherwise meet our ongoing liquidity needs (which could cause us to fail to meet the terms of our covenants and other requirements under our various debt instruments and therefore trigger an acceleration of a significant portion or all of our outstanding debt obligations), including the impact of any downgrades of our credit ratings or reduction in our liquidity levels; (x) market perceptions regarding any capital raising initiatives we may undertake (including future issuances of equity or debt capital); (xi) terrorist acts, protests and civil unrest, political uncertainty, natural disasters, acts of war or other factors over which the Company has no control; (xii) inaccurate estimates related to homes to be delivered in the future (backlog), as they are subject to various cancellation risks that cannot be fully controlled; (xiii) changes in tax laws or otherwise regarding the deductibility of mortgage interest expenses and real estate taxes; (xiv) increased competition or delays in reacting to changing consumer preferences in home design; (xv) natural disasters or other related events that could result in delays in land development or home construction, increase our costs or decrease demand in the impacted areas; (xvi) the potential recoverability of our deferred tax assets; (xvii) increases in corporate tax rates; (xviii) potential delays or increased costs in obtaining necessary permits as a result of changes to, or complying with, laws, regulations or governmental policies, and possible penalties for failure to comply with such laws, regulations or governmental policies, including those related to the environment; (xix) the results of litigation or government proceedings and fulfillment of any related obligations; (xx) the impact of construction defect and home warranty claims; (xxi) the cost and availability of insurance and surety bonds, as well as the sufficiency of these instruments to cover potential losses incurred; (xxii) the impact of information technology failures, cybersecurity issues or data security breaches; (xxiii) the impact of governmental regulations on homebuilding in key markets, such as regulations limiting the availability of water; and (xxiv) the success of our ESG initiatives, including our ability to meet our goal that every home we build will be Net Zero Energy Ready by 2025 as well as the success of any other related partnerships or pilot programs we may enter into in order to increase the energy efficiency of our homes and prepare for a Net Zero future.

Any forward-looking statement, including any statement expressing confidence regarding future outcomes, speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all such factors.

-Tables Follow-

Reconciliation of homebuilding gross profit and the related gross margin excluding impairments and abandonments and interest amortized to cost of sales to homebuilding gross profit and gross margin, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is provided for each period discussed below. Management believes that this information assists investors in comparing the operating characteristics of homebuilding activities by eliminating many of the differences in companies' respective level of impairments and level of debt. These measures should not be considered alternative to homebuilding gross profit and gross margin determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance.

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to total company net income, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is provided for each period discussed below. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA assists investors in understanding and comparing the operating characteristics of homebuilding activities by eliminating many of the differences in companies' respective capitalization, tax position, and level of impairments. These EBITDA measures should not be considered alternatives to net income determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220428006025/en/

Beazer Homes USA, Inc.
David I. Goldberg
Sr. Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
770-829-3700
investor.relations@beazer.com

Source: Beazer Homes USA, Inc.