PulteGroup, Inc. ( PHM ) shares are trading lower after the company reported third-quarter results.

Revenue stood at $4.48 billion, beating the consensus of $4.26 billion.

Reported home sale revenues rose 12% to $4.3 billion, with higher revenues reflecting a 12% increase in closings to 7,924 homes and an average sales price of $548,000 (flat Y/Y).

The gross margin for home sales stood at 28.8%, vs. 29.5% a year ago.

Net new orders fell to 7,031 from 7,065 homes last year. However, the dollar value of net new orders rose 3% to $3.9 billion in the third quarter.

GAAP EPS of $3.35 beat the consensus of $3.15.

At the end of the third quarter, the company’s backlog was 12,089  homes, valued at $7.7 billion.

The company ended the year with $1.5 billion of cash and a debt-to-capital ratio of 12.3%.

During the quarter, the company repurchased 2.5 million of its common shares for $320 million, or an average price of $126.05 per share.

Ryan Marshall, PulteGroup ( PHM ) President and CEO, said, “Years of underbuilding has created a structural shortage of homes and correspondingly high home prices, so the Federal Reserve’s pivot to lowering interest rates provides a powerful tool in helping to address the affordability challenge faced by today’s homebuyers.”

“Given our strong third quarter and nine-month financial results, we are well positioned to deliver a record year of earnings for the Company,” added Marshall.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via IShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ( ITB ) and SMI 3Fourteen Full-Cycle Trend ETF ( FCTE ) .

Price Action: PHM shares are down 5.8% at $135.90 at the last check Tuesday.

Image via Shutterstock

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