PulteGroup Reports Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Results

•         Net Income of $3.28 Per Share

•         Net New Orders Increased 57% to 6,214 Homes

•         Closings of 7,615 Homes Drove Home Sale Revenues of $4.2 Billion

•         Home Sale Gross Margin of 28.9%

•         Unit Backlog of 12,146 Homes with a Value of $7.3 Billion

•         Repurchased 3.6 Million Common Shares in the Quarter for $300 Million

•         Year End Cash Balance of $1.8 Billion and a Debt-to-Capital Ratio of 15.9%

•         Announces $1.5 Billion Increase to Share Repurchase Authorization

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) announced today financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023.  For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $711 million, or $3.28 per share, compared to prior year reported net income of $882 million, or $3.85 per share.

 “PulteGroup’s strong fourth quarter financial results complete a record setting year, while the 57% increase in net new orders provides tremendous momentum heading into 2024,” said Ryan Marshall, PulteGroup President and CEO.  “For the full year, PulteGroup generated nearly $16 billion in revenues and net income of $2.6 billion, while delivering a return on equity* of 27.0% and returning over $1.1 billion to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends.

“As the fourth quarter progressed, we experienced a significant increase in buyer activity as interest rates moved lower, resulting in December being the highest sales month of the quarter.  With expectations for interest rates to remain lower in 2024, we are optimistic that improved affordability dynamics will continue attracting buyers into the market. 

“After multiple years of variable macroeconomic activity, expectations are that 2024 can be a year of increased homebuying demand given a strong job market, lower interest rates and a limited inventory of existing homes.  With a ready supply of homes and lots, I believe PulteGroup is extremely well positioned to capitalize on such market conditions as we seek to grow our business, while delivering strong cash flow and high returns.”

Fourth Quarter Results

For the fourth quarter, home sale revenues totaled $4.2 billion, compared with $5.0 billion in the prior year.  Revenues in the quarter reflect closings of 7,615 homes at an average sales price of $547,000.  Closings in the fourth quarter of 2022 totaled 8,848 homes at an average sales price of $561,000. 

The Company’s home sale gross margin for the fourth quarter was 28.9%, compared with 29.4% in the prior year period.  Fourth quarter SG&A expense was $308 million, or 7.4% of home sale revenues, compared with $351 million, or 7.1%, in the prior year.  Reported SG&A expense reflects a $65 million pre-tax insurance benefit recorded in the fourth quarter of both 2023 and 2022. 

Net new orders in the fourth quarter increased 57% over the prior year to 6,214 homes, while the dollar value of these orders increased 56% to $3.4 billion.  The increase in net new orders reflects both an improved selling environment and a decrease in cancelations.  Cancelations in the quarter were 9% of starting backlog, down from 11% in the comparable prior year period. 

The average community count in the fourth quarter increased 8% from the prior year to 919 communities. 

The Company’s Financial Services operations reported fourth quarter pre-tax income of $44 million, up from $24 million in the prior year.  Higher pre-tax income for the period reflects more favorable market conditions that developed this year across our financial services platform, coupled with higher capture rates, including an increase to 85%, up from 75% last year, in our mortgage operations.

In the fourth quarter, the Company repurchased 3.6 million of its common shares for $300 million, or an average price of $83.03 per share.  For full year 2023, the Company repurchased 13.8 million common shares for $1.0 billion, or an average price of $72.50 per share.  The 13.8 million common shares repurchased represent approximately 6.1% of shares outstanding at the beginning of 2023.

The Company ended the year with $1.8 billion of cash and a debt-to-capital ratio of 15.9%. 

In a separate release, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved a $1.5 billion increase to the Company’s share repurchase authorization, bringing its total share repurchase authorization to $1.8 billion. 

 “Having repurchased almost 50% of our stock since initiating the program in 2013, this new authorization reflects our Company’s ongoing commitment to returning excess funds to our shareholders,” said Marshall.

A conference call discussing PulteGroup's fourth quarter 2023 results is scheduled for Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.  Interested investors can access the live webcast via PulteGroup's corporate website at www.pultegroup.com.

* The Company's return on equity is calculated as net income for the trailing twelve months divided by average shareholders' equity, where average shareholders' equity is the sum of ending shareholders' equity balances of the trailing five quarters divided by five.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes “forward-looking statements.” These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets we serve or intend to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate to matters of a strictly factual or historical nature and generally discuss or relate to forecasts, estimates or other expectations regarding future events. Generally, the words “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “project,” “may,” “can,” “could,” “might,” “should,” “will” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, including statements related to any potential impairment charges and the impacts or effects thereof, expected operating and performing results, planned transactions, planned objectives of management, future developments or conditions in the industries in which we participate and other trends, developments and uncertainties that may affect our business in the future.

Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: interest rate changes and the availability of mortgage financing; the impact of any changes to our strategy in responding to the cyclical nature of the industry or deteriorations in industry changes or downward changes in general economic or other business conditions, including any changes regarding our land positions and the levels of our land spend; economic changes nationally or in our local markets, including inflation, deflation, changes in consumer confidence and preferences and the state of the market for homes in general; labor supply shortages and the cost of labor; the availability and cost of land and other raw materials used by us in our homebuilding operations; a decline in the value of the land and home inventories we maintain and resulting possible future writedowns of the carrying value of our real estate assets; competition within the industries in which we operate; governmental regulation directed at or affecting the housing market, the homebuilding industry or construction activities, slow growth initiatives and/or local building moratoria; the availability and cost of insurance covering risks associated with our businesses, including warranty and other legal or regulatory proceedings or claims; damage from improper acts of persons over whom we do not have control or attempts to impose liabilities or obligations of third parties on us; weather related slowdowns; the impact of climate change and related governmental regulation; adverse capital and credit market conditions, which may affect our access to and cost of capital; the insufficiency of our income tax provisions and tax reserves, including as a result of changing laws or interpretations; the potential that we do not realize our deferred tax assets; our inability to sell mortgages into the secondary market; uncertainty in the mortgage lending industry, including revisions to underwriting standards and repurchase requirements associated with the sale of mortgage loans, and related claims against us; risks related to information technology failures or data security issues; failure to retain key personnel; the disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (or another epidemic or pandemic or similar public threat or fear of such an event), and the measures taken to address it; the effect of cybersecurity incidents and threats; and other factors of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business and competitive nature. See Item 1A – Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 for a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to our businesses. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or changes in our expectations.