PulteGroup, Inc. announced today financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2015.  For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $55 million, or $0.15 per share.  Prior year net income of $75 million, or $0.19 per share, includes a net benefit of $0.02 per share relating to the reversal of mortgage repurchase reserves partially offset by expenses associated with debt redemption charges.  

"The improving demand conditions that we noted toward the end of 2014 carried through the first quarter of 2015 and provided a strong start to the spring selling season," said Richard J. Dugas, Jr., PulteGroup Chairman, President and CEO.  "We remain encouraged by overall housing demand which continues along a sustained but slow recovery path supported by an improving job market, favorable demographics, low interest rates and generally low inventory of available homes."

"Although Q1 earnings were impacted by higher income tax expense, acquisition accounting and construction delays which slowed closings, we generated a 6% increase in unit signups while maintaining high absorption paces and low incentive levels.  Given the favorable demand environment and ongoing benefits from our Value Creation initiatives, we are well positioned to deliver another year of excellent operating and financial results," said Dugas.   

Home sale revenues for the first quarter were $1.1 billion, which was comparable with the prior year.  Revenues for the quarter reflect a 2% increase in average selling price to $323,000, offset by a 2% decrease in closings to 3,365 homes.  The higher average selling price was the result of price increases realized across all three of the Company's national brands: Centex, Pulte and Del Webb.  

Home sale gross margin for the quarter was 22.7% which was in line with Company guidance. Margins for the period reflect the impact of a 30 basis point reduction from acquisition accounting associated with the Company's 2014 purchase of certain assets from Dominion Homes.  Homebuilding SG&A expense for the period was $161 million, or 14.8% of home sale revenues, compared with $145 million, or 13.3% of home sale revenues, in the comparable prior year quarter.  

For the quarter, net new orders gained 6% over the prior year to 5,139 homes.  The dollar value of net new orders also increased 6% over the prior year to $1.7 billion.  For the quarter, the Company operated out of 613 communities which is an increase of 5% over last year.

PulteGroup's backlog at quarter end totaled 7,624 homes valued at $2.6 billion, compared with prior year backlog of 7,199 homes valued at $2.4 billion.  The average price in backlog of $336,000 is consistent with backlog as of March 31, 2014, and up 1% over December 31, 2014.

The Company's financial services operations reported pretax income of $5 million for the quarter, compared with pretax income of $22 million in the prior year.  First quarter 2014 pretax income included a $19 million benefit relating to the reversal of a portion of the Company's mortgage repurchase reserves.  Mortgage capture rate for the quarter was 82% compared with 78% in the comparable prior year period.  

Income tax expense for the period was $41 million, or an effective tax rate of 42.6%, which is higher than Company guidance of 38%.  The higher tax rate for the period reflects a charge of $0.02 per share relating to an adjustment to the Company's deferred tax asset resulting from a change in its prospective effective tax rate.  The Company currently estimates that its normalized tax rate for future quarters will remain near its previous guidance of 38%.

The Company ended the quarter with $1.1 billion of cash after investing $484 million in land and repurchasing 4.6 million shares of common stock in the period for $100 million, or an average price of $21.75 per share.

A conference call discussing PulteGroup's first quarter results is scheduled for Thursday, April 23, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.  Interested investors can access the live webcast via PulteGroup's corporate website at www.pultegroupinc.com.