LEN Lennar Corp

By Austen Hufford 

Home builder Lennar Corp. posted another quarter of gains in key metrics as the U.S. housing market continues to recover.

The company's third quarter results came in above analysts' expectations.

Chief Executive Stuart Miller said "the housing market's recovery has continued to progress on a slow, steady and sometimes, choppy path."

Still, its margin fell and metrics for Miami-based Lennar, one of the largest U.S. home builders by houses constructed, posted slower growth than in recent quarters.

Gross margin on home sales fell to 22.6% from 24.1% on rising land costs.

The number and average price of homes delivered rose in the quarter, driving revenue growth. The number of deliveries rose 7% for the third quarter from a year before as the average price of a delivered home increased 3.7% to $363,000.

The number of new orders increased 8% as backlogs increased 12%.

The company's results were hurt by its Houston segment whose large energy sector has been challenged by low energy prices in recent quarters.

Lennar reported a quarterly profit of $235.8 million, or $1.01 a share, up from $223.3 million, or 96 cents a share, a year prior. Revenue grew 13.7% to $2.83 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected 89 cents in per-share profit on $2.68 billion in revenue.

Shares in the company, down 1.3% in the past three months, rose 0.7% in premarket trading.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2016 07:03 ET (11:03 GMT)

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