The top end of the housing market has been hot. Investors will get a clear read on demand for luxury homes when Toll Brothers reports third quarter financial results on Tuesday.
Analysts expect that the Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers earned $2.93 a share on roughly $2.6 billion in revenue, according to FactSet, down from $3.73 a diluted share on roughly $2.9 billion in revenue in the prior year's quarter.
At a time when the overall housing market is slow, eyes will be on Toll Brothers' margin. The company has offered earnings guidance of 25.3% adjusted home sales gross margin. As mortgage rates have remained high, many builders have offered incentives, such as buying down a customer's mortgage rate, at the expense of their margins.
Of the builders polled by the National Association of Home Builders in August, 63% offered buyers sales incentives, while 35% cut prices.
"Custom home builders continue to report stronger market conditions than spec builders, reflecting better conditions at the higher end of the market," the builders' Chief Economist Robert Dietz said in a statement. "Smaller, less dense markets are also outperforming larger metropolitan areas, and smaller builders report relatively stronger conditions than larger builders."
Compared with other public builders, Toll Brother's wealthy clientele provides some insulation. The company builds homes with an average price point around $1 million.
"In this environment, we are pleased to be serving a more affluent customer base, a segment of the housing market that has proven more resilient despite the challenges facing the broader market," Douglas C. Yearley, Jr., Toll Brothers' executive chairman, said on the builder's second quarter call with investors in May. "Overall, our buyers are less sensitive to affordability pressures as they have benefited from years of income growth, stock market gains, and home equity appreciation."
Toll Brothers will report its results for the quarter ended July 31 after the market closes on Tuesday, and will discuss results on a call with investors at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday.