The new home company reports 2018 second quarter results
Aliso viejo, calif.--(business wire)--the new home company inc. (nyse: nwhm) today announced results for the 2018 second quarter. second quarter 2018 highlights compared to second quarter 2017 total revenues of $155.6 million vs. $144.1 million home sales revenue of $117.5 million, up 21%; deliveries up 52% net new home orders up 98% backlog units up 66% ending community count up 122% “during the 2018 second quarter, we enjoyed a solid spring selling season with net new orders nearly doubling over the prior period," said larry webb, chief executive officer of the new home company. "our order growth benefited from a 100% increase in average active selling communities, resulting in a 66% increase in backlog units, and has positioned us well for the second half of the year." mr. webb continued, "homes sales revenue rose 21% during the quarter thanks to a 52% increase in home deliveries reflecting our continued growth and diversification into more affordable price points. the 2018 second quarter also included home orders and deliveries from our first inland empire community in southern california, a new market that we expect to become a meaningful part of our business. we continue to expand our investments in california and arizona where strong housing fundamentals continue and our wholly owned lot count grew by 77% over the prior year." mr. webb concluded, "we remain confident in our company's strategy and long-term outlook as evidenced by the commencement of our stock repurchase plan during the quarter. as we enter the second half of the year, i am excited about the opportunities for our business and look forward to delivering on our growth and strategic objectives for 2018 and beyond." second quarter 2018 operating results total revenues for the 2018 second quarter were $155.6 million, compared to $144.1 million in the prior year period. the net income attributable to the company was $115,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.5 million, or $0.07 per diluted share in the prior year period. the year-over-year decrease in net income was primarily attributable to a 140 basis point increase in selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of home sales revenue, a 100 basis point decline in home sales gross margin, and a decrease in fee building revenues and joint venture income. these items were partially offset by a 21% increase in home sales revenue and a 70 basis point decrease in general and administrative expenses as a percentage of homes sales revenue. wholly owned projects home sales revenue for the 2018 second quarter increased 21% to $117.5 million, compared to $96.9 million in the prior year period. the increase in home sales revenue was driven by a 52% increase in deliveries, which was partially offset by a 20% lower average selling price of homes delivered to $1.2 million due to the strategic initiative to expand our portfolio to include more affordably-priced product and grow community count. gross margin from home sales for the 2018 second quarter was 12.6% as compared to 13.6% in the prior year period. the 100 basis point decline in home sales gross margin was primarily due to a product mix shift and higher interest costs. in addition, the 2017 second quarter included a $1.3 million impairment charge compared to no impairments in the 2018 period. the mix shift included three lower margin close-out communities in southern california in the 2018 second quarter, while the 2017 second quarter was positively impacted by deliveries from two higher-margin communities in newport coast, ca and one community in the bay area. adjusted gross margin from home sales for the 2018 second quarter, excluding impairments and interest in cost of home sales, was 15.8%* compared to 16.7%* in the prior year period. our sg&a expense ratio as a percentage of home sales revenue for the 2018 second quarter was 13.1% versus 12.4% in the prior year period. the 70 basis point increase in the sg&a rate was primarily due to higher selling and marketing costs related to the ramp up of new communities and higher co-broker commissions. these items were partially offset by a lower g&a rate primarily due to higher revenues. net new home orders for the 2018 second quarter increased 98% to 194 homes, compared to 98 homes in the prior year period. the increase was primarily driven by a 100% increase in average selling communities during the quarter. the company's monthly sales absorption rate for the 2018 second quarter was 3.2 sales per average selling community versus 3.3 in the 2017 period. the company’s ending active selling community count was up 122% as of the 2018 second quarter at 20 as compared to nine at the year ago period end. the company's cancellation rate for the 2018 second quarter remained at the lower end of the industry at 6% as compared to 10% in the prior year period. the dollar value of the company's wholly owned backlog at the end of the 2018 second quarter was $290.9 million and totaled 307 homes, compared to $339.4 million and 185 homes in the prior year period. the decrease in backlog dollar value resulted from a 48% lower average selling price of homes in backlog at $948,000 as compared to $1.8 million a year ago. the year-over-year decline in the company's average selling price of homes in backlog was driven primarily by the mix of homes in backlog in southern california as we expand our product offerings to include more affordably-priced communities. the 2017 second quarter backlog included homes from two higher-priced luxury communities located in newport coast, ca that closed out in 2017. fee building projects fee building revenue for the 2018 second quarter was $38.1 million, compared to $47.2 million in the prior year period. the decline was primarily due to a decrease in fee building construction activity. our fee building gross margin was $1.1 million compared to $1.3 million in the prior year period largely as a result of lower fee building revenue. management fees from joint ventures were $0.7 million during the 2018 second quarter, compared to $1.2 million in the prior year period. unconsolidated joint ventures (jvs) the company’s share of joint venture loss was $0.1 million for the 2018 second quarter, down from $0.2 million of income in the prior year period. the following sets forth supplemental information about the company’s joint ventures. such information is not included in the company’s financial data for gaap purposes but is provided for informational purposes. joint venture net loss totaled $0.3 million, compared to a net loss of $0.7 million in the prior year period. joint venture home sales revenue totaled $29.9 million, compared to $34.2 million in the prior year period, while joint venture land sales revenue totaled $3.9 million for the 2018 second quarter, compared to $0.9 million in the prior year period. at the end of the 2018 second quarter, our joint ventures had seven actively selling communities, compared to eight at the end of the 2017 second quarter. net new home orders from joint ventures for the 2018 second quarter decreased 22% to 42 homes as compared to 54 homes in the prior year period. the dollar value of homes in backlog from joint ventures at the end of each the 2018 and 2017 second quarters was $70.9 million from 90 homes. income taxes the company recorded a $0.1 million income tax provision for the 2018 second quarter, compared to a provision of $1.0 million in the prior year period. the company's effective tax rate was 36.8%, 24.7%* before discrete items, as compared to 39.4%, 38.0%* before discrete items, in the 2017 second quarter. the year-over-year decrease in rate before discrete items was the result of the tax cuts and jobs act enacted in december 2017 that reduced the corporate federal tax rate from a maximum of 35% to a flat 21%, effective for 2018. balance sheet and liquidity as of june 30, 2018, the company had real estate inventories totaling $469.7 million, of which $386.4 million represented work-in-process and completed homes (including models), $43.4 million in land and land under development, and $40.0 million in land deposits and pre-acquisition costs. the company owned or controlled 3,227 lots through its wholly owned operations (excluding fee building and joint venture lots), of which 2,109 lots, or 65%, were controlled through option contracts. the company ended the 2018 second quarter with $90.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $354.4 million in debt, of which $35.0 million was outstanding under its $200 million revolving credit facility. as of june 30, 2018, the company had a debt-to-capital ratio of 57.8% and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 50.4%*. stock repurchase during the 2018 second quarter, the company repurchased 205,240 shares of common stock for approximately $2.1 million, or an average price of $10.08 per share, under its previously announced stock repurchase plan. under the repurchase program, the company may repurchase its common stock with an aggregate value of up to $15 million. guidance the company's current estimate for full year guidance for 2018 is as follows: home sales revenue of $580 - $620 million fee building revenue of $140 - $160 million home sales gross margin of 14.2% - 14.7% income from unconsolidated joint ventures of $0.5 million - $1.0 million wholly owned active year-end community count of 18 joint venture active year-end community count of 6 the company's current estimate for the 2018 third quarter is as follows: home sales revenue of $110 - $130 million fee building revenue of $20 - $30 million income from unconsolidated joint ventures of $0.1 million wholly owned active quarter-end community count of 19 joint venture active quarter-end community count of 7 conference call details the company will host a conference call and webcast for investors and other interested parties beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern time on friday, august 3, 2018, to review second quarter results, discuss recent events and results, and discuss the company's updated full year and certain quarterly guidance for 2018. we will also conduct a question-and-answer period. the conference call will be available in the investors section of the company’s website at www.nwhm.com. to listen to the broadcast live, go to the site approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. to participate in the telephone conference call, dial 1-877-407-0789 (domestic) or 1-201-689-8562 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start time. replays of the conference call will be available through september 3, 2018, and can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (domestic) or 1-412-317-6671 (international) and entering the pass code 13681376. * adjusted homebuilding gross margin percentage (or homebuilding gross margin excluding impairments and interest in cost of sales), effective tax rate before discrete items and net debt-to-capital ratio are non-gaap measures. a reconciliation of the appropriate gaap measure to each of these measures is included in the accompanying financial data. see “reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures.” about the new home company nwhm is a new generation homebuilder focused on the design, construction and sale of innovative and consumer-driven homes in major metropolitan areas within select growth markets in california and arizona, including coastal southern california, the san francisco bay area, metro sacramento and the greater phoenix area. the company is headquartered in aliso viejo, california. for more information about the company and its new home developments, please visit the company's website at www.nwhm.com. forward-looking statements various statements contained in this press release, including those that express a belief, anticipation, expectation or intention, as well as those that are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. these forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning our revenues, community counts and openings, the timing and success of specific projects, our ability to execute our strategic growth objectives, gross margins, other projected results, income, earnings per share and capital spending. our forward-looking statements are generally accompanied by words such as “estimate,” “should,” “project,” “predict,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “potential,” “plan,” “goal,” “will,” “guidance,” “target,” “forecast,” or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. the forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this release, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly. we have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. while our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. the following factors, among others, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements: economic changes either nationally or in the markets in which we operate, including declines in employment, volatility of mortgage interest rates and inflation; a downturn in the homebuilding industry; changes in sales conditions, including home prices, in the markets where we build homes; our significant amount of debt and the impact of restrictive covenants in our debt agreements; our ability to repay our debt as it comes due; changes in our credit rating or outlook; volatility and uncertainty in the credit markets and broader financial markets; our business and investment strategy; availability of land to acquire and our ability to acquire such land on favorable terms or at all; our liquidity and availability, terms and deployment of capital; shortages of or increased prices for labor, land or raw materials used in housing construction; adverse weather conditions and natural disasters (including wild fires); issues concerning our joint venture partnerships; the cost and availability of insurance and surety bonds; governmental regulation, including the impact of "slow growth" or similar initiatives; changes in, or the failure or inability to comply with, governmental laws and regulations; the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects; delays in the land entitlement process, development, construction, or the opening of new home communities; litigation and warranty claims; the degree and nature of competition; the impact of recent accounting standards; availability of qualified personnel and our ability to retain our key personnel; and additional factors discussed under the sections captioned “risk factors” included in our annual report and other reports filed with the securities and exchange commission. the company reserves the right to make such updates from time to time by press release, periodic report or other method of public disclosure without the need for specific reference to this press release. no such update shall be deemed to indicate that other statements not addressed by such update remain correct or create an obligation to provide any other updates. consolidated statements of operations (unaudited) consolidated balance sheets consolidated statements of cash flows (unaudited) key financial and operating data (dollars in thousands) (unaudited) dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price dollar value average price lots controlled(1) fee building(2) adjusted ebitda margin percentage(1) adjusted ebitda margin percentage(1) 3.9 x 7.2 x 5.4 x 3.9 x 1.6 x 1.7 x key financial and operating data – unconsolidated joint ventures (dollars in thousands) (unaudited) financial data – unconsolidated joint ventures: operating data – unconsolidated joint ventures: reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures(unaudited) the following table reconciles homebuilding gross margin percentage as reported and prepared in accordance with gaap to the non-gaap measures, homebuilding gross margin before impairments and adjusted homebuilding gross margin. we believe this information is meaningful, as it isolates the impact home sales impairments and leverage have on homebuilding gross margin and provides investors better comparisons with our competitors, who adjust gross margins in a similar fashion. the following table reconciles the company’s effective tax rate calculated in accordance with gaap to the non-gaap measure, effective tax rate before discrete items. the tax cuts and jobs act enacted in december 2017 cut federal corporate income tax rates effective for 2018, and we believe removing the impact of the discrete items is relevant to provide investors with an understanding of the impact the tax cuts had on earnings. effective tax rate(1) (1) effective tax rate is computed by dividing the (provision) benefit for income taxes by pretax income (loss). reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures (continued)(unaudited) adjusted ebitda, adjusted ebitda margin percentage, the ratio of adjusted ebitda to total interest incurred, the ratio of debt to adjusted ebitda, and the ratio of net debt to adjusted ebitda are non-gaap measures. adjusted ebitda means net income (loss) (plus cash distributions of income from unconsolidated joint ventures) before (a) income taxes, (b) interest expense, (c) amortization of previously capitalized interest included in cost of sales or other expense, (d) noncash impairment charges and abandoned project costs, (e) gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt, (f) depreciation and amortization, (g) amortization of equity-based compensation and (h) income (loss) from unconsolidated joint ventures. adjusted ebitda margin percentage is calculated by dividing adjusted ebitda by total revenue for a given period. the ratio of adjusted ebitda to total interest incurred is calculated by dividing adjusted ebitda by total interest incurred for a given period. the ratio of debt to adjusted ebitda is calculated by dividing debt at the period end by adjusted ebitda for a given period. the ratio of net debt to adjusted ebitda is calculated by dividing debt at the period end less cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash by adjusted ebitda for a given period. other companies may calculate adjusted ebitda differently. 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, interest costs, tax position and level of impairments. due to the significance of the gaap components excluded, adjusted ebitda should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income, cash flows from operations or any other performance measure prescribed by gaap. a reconciliation of net income to adjusted ebitda, adjusted ebitda margin percentage, the ratio of adjusted ebitda to total interest incurred, the ratio of debt to adjusted ebitda, and the ratio of net debt to adjusted ebitda is provided in the following table. 2.3 x ratio of net debt to adjusted ebitda 1.6 x 1.7 x reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures (continued)(unaudited) the following table reconciles the company’s ratio of debt-to-capital to the non-gaap ratio of net debt-to-capital. we believe that the ratio of net debt-to-capital is a relevant financial measure for management and investors to understand the leverage employed in our operations and as an indicator of the company’s ability to obtain financing.
