Shares of Standard Pacific Corp. were down early Monday after the Irvine-based homebuilder reported an unexpected quarterly loss and revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Standard Pacific’s stock closed down 5% Monday on a market value of $565 million.
The homebuilder, which is in the midst of an ongoing turnaround, reported a loss of $5.1 million for the first quarter, down from a loss of $49.5 million a year earlier.
Analysts on average were expecting the company to break even for the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Standard Pacific posted its first quarterly profit in several years after the housing market crash brought big losses driven by fewer sales and big writedowns in the value of land and unsold homes.
First-quarter revenue fell 16% to $175 million, well below the $279.4 million analyst were expecting on average.
The company had fewer homes available for sale in the quarter, driving the lower revenue, according to Standard Pacific.
It recorded 537 new homes delivered to buyers, down 22% from a year earlier.
Standard Pacific’s results included signs of its own turnaround as well as that of the housing industry.
The company’s gross margin on home sales was 23% for the quarter, up from 17.4% a year earlier excluding writedowns.
Lower operating and construction costs and rising prices in the company’s dominant California market dove the improved gross margin.
The average price of a Standard Pacific home was $326,000 in the quarter, up 9% from a year earlier.
New orders, or contracts to buy a Standard Pacific home, rose 3% from to 759 homes. The company’s cancellation rate was 15%, down from 24% a year earlier and 21% in the fourth quarter.
