06:35 AM EST, 01/14/2025 (MT Newswires) -- KB Home ( KBH ) shares jumped early Tuesday as the company recorded better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results while the homebuilder saw double-digit growth in deliveries and net orders.

Earnings increased to $2.52 a share for the quarter ended Nov. 30 from $1.85 the year before, the company said late Monday, surpassing the FactSet-polled consensus of $2.44. Revenue advanced 19% year over year to $2 billion, topping the Street's view for $1.99 billion. The stock climbed 9.3% in premarket activity.

"We had a strong finish to 2024, with significant year-over-year growth in our fourth-quarter revenues and diluted earnings per share," Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement. "Our higher revenues reflected an increase in deliveries, which were driven by faster build times."

Total homebuilding revenue amounted to $1.99 billion, up from $1.67 billion in the prior-year quarter. Homes delivered rose 17% year over year to 3,978 while the average selling price inclined 3% to $501,000. Net orders surged 41% to 2,688 homes "as buyers continued to demonstrate a desire for homeownership and housing market conditions improved relative to last year, despite ongoing mortgage interest rate headwinds," according to Mezger.

Housing gross profit margin rose to 20.9% from 20.7% last year. Overall homebuilding costs and expenses totaled $1.76 billion, up from $1.48 billion in the prior-year period.

For the full year 2025, KB Home ( KBH ) anticipates housing revenue to be in a range of $7 billion to $7.5 billion, compared with $6.9 billion recorded in the prior year. In September, KB Home's ( KBH ) senior management disclosed that the company expected about $7.5 billion in housing revenue for the ongoing year. Housing gross profit margin is pegged at 20% to 21%.

"In 2025, we will remain focused on expanding our scale, profitability and returns," Mezger said. "We believe we are poised for growth having invested over $2.8 billion in land acquisition and development in 2024, and we plan to increase our investment again in 2025."

For the current three-month period, the homebuilder projects housing revenue between $1.45 billion and $1.55 billion, and a housing gross profit margin of 20% to 20.4%, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Kaminski said on an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "This gross margin outlook assumes the market conditions we experienced in 2024 with persistently elevated mortgage interest rates will continue," according to Kaminski.