Schuler Homes’
profits leap 86.9%
Expansion on the mainland
By Russ Lynch
more than offsets a decline in
the company's Hawaii business
Star-Bulletin
Continued expansion on the mainland boosted third-quarter profits at Schuler Homes Inc.by 86.9 percent, the company said today.
Schuler reported a net of $6.7 million for the three months through Sept. 30 compared with a net of $3.6 million in the 1998 quarter. The per-share profit was up 83.3 percent at 33 cents in the latest quarter from 18 cents a year ago.
The per-share results beat the average estimate of 30 cents from four Wall Street analysts who follow the company. But Schuler's Nasdaq-traded shares still fell 12 cents today to close at $6.37.
Revenues of the Honolulu-based home builder were up 62.1 percent at $128.3 million in the latest quarter from $79.2 million.
Hawaii business was down but the decline was more than covered by strong gains in Colorado, Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
In the islands, Schuler completed the sale of 76 homes in the 1999 quarter, a 14.6 percent decline from 89 in the year-earlier period. On the mainland, Schuler's closings totaled 616 in the latest quarter, up 46.3 percent from 421 in the 1998 quarter.
As of of Sept. 30, Schuler had sold -- but not yet delivered or been paid for -- 97 homes in Hawaii worth a total of $27 million, or an average of $278,350 each. A year earlier, the company's Hawaii backlog was 58 homes at a total of $16.8 million, averaging $289,660 each.
Its mainland backlog at the end of September was much larger, showing 935 homes sold but not delivered, worth $189.9 million or an average of $203,100.
The year-earlier mainland backlog was 550 homes worth $116.16 million, or $211,200 each on average.
Schuler Homes endured several years of low earnings until it expanded to the mainland in early 1997.
