DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) swung to a fiscal first-quarter profit as the luxury home builder saw the dollar volume of deliveries and average prices rise, boosting the top line. Builders' results in recent quarters had been buoyed by residual effects of the rush of buyers to get the first-time home-buyer tax credit before it expired last spring. Toll has swung its bottom line back to the black in recent quarters, helped by tax benefits and fewer write-downs, though revenue has been pressured. In December, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services increased the likelihood it would downgrade Toll to junk, based on the bleak outlook for the U.S. housing market. For the quarter ended Jan. 31, Toll Brothers reported a profit of $3.4 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $40.8 million, or 25 cents a share. Excluding write-downs, it swung to a pretax profit of $8.1 million from a loss of $23.4 million. Revenue increased 2.3% to $334.1 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast a 4-cent loss on $315 million in revenue. Gross margin, excluding interest and write-downs, surged to 22.6% from 18.3%. Home deliveries were up 2% on a dollar basis but slid 4% on a units basis to 570. Net signed contracts rose 5% on a dollars basis and 7% on a units basis. The cancellation rate was 5.7%, compared with 6.7% a year earlier and 8.8% in the prior quarter. The average delivery price increased 7% to $586,000. Shares closed at $20.76 on Tuesday and were inactive premarket. As of Tuesday's close, the stock had risen 9.8% the past year. -By Nathan Becker and Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com
