Beazer Homes Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal 2022 Results

Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) (www.beazer.com) today announced its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2022.

“We generated very strong fourth quarter and full year financial results,” said Allan P. Merrill, the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Increases in both home prices and margins generated a significant improvement in profitability, with full year Adjusted EBITDA reaching $370 million and earnings per share above $7.00. This led to a meaningful increase in book value – which now exceeds $30.00 per share – and allowed us to reach our long-standing deleveraging goal.”

Commenting on current market conditions, Mr. Merrill said, “The environment for new home sales became significantly more challenging over the course of fiscal 2022, as higher mortgage rates worsened an already strained affordability equation for most buyers. In response, we have increased incentives and reduced base prices in most of our communities. In the quarters ahead we will continue to adjust the included features, size, and pricing of our homes to compete for sales. At the same time, we expect to benefit from lower construction costs and shorter cycle times, as lower new home construction activity relieves some of the commodity, building product and labor constraints that have contributed to a significant increase in the cost of new homes.”

Looking further out, Mr. Merrill concluded, “We remain confident in the multi-year growth of our business and the new home industry. The gap between the structural demand for homes and the likely supply of homes – which has given rise to a multi-million home deficit over the past decade – remains in place. With a seasoned operating team, an ample supply of lots and a more efficient and less leveraged balance sheet, we remain confident that we will be able to create durable value for our stakeholders in the years ahead.”

Beazer Homes Fiscal 2022 Highlights and Comparison to Fiscal 2021

• Net income from continuing operations of $220.7 million, or $7.17 per diluted share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $122.2 million, or $4.01 per diluted share, in fiscal 2021
• Adjusted EBITDA of $370.1 million, up 40.9%
• Homebuilding revenue of $2.3 billion, up 8.2% on a 20.3% increase in average selling price to $484.1 thousand, partially offset by a 10.0% decrease in home closings to 4,756
• Homebuilding gross margin was 23.1%, up 420 basis points. Excluding impairments, abandonments and amortized interest, homebuilding gross margin was 26.3%, up 330 basis points
• SG&A as a percentage of total revenue was 10.9%, a decrease of 50 basis points
• Net new orders of 4,061, down 27.0% on a 22.7% decrease in sales/community/month to 2.8 and a 5.6% decrease in average community count to 120
• Land acquisition and land development spending was $573.6 million, down 3.7% from $595.5 million
• Controlled lots of 25,170, up 14.5% from 21,987
• Acquired substantially all of the assets of Imagine Homes, a private San Antonio-based homebuilder in which the Company has held a one-third ownership stake for the past 16 years
• Retired a total of $74.4 million of debt, achieving the Company's goal of reducing debt below $1.0 billion
• Repurchased $8.2 million of shares through open market transactions

Beazer Homes Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2022 Highlights and Comparison to Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2021

• Net income from continuing operations of $86.8 million, or $2.82 per diluted share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $48.4 million, or $1.57 per diluted share, in fiscal fourth quarter 2021
• Adjusted EBITDA of $143.3 million, up 88.4%
• Homebuilding revenue of $825.4 million, up 40.1% on a 14.9% increase in home closings to 1,616 and a 22.0% increase in average selling price to $510.7 thousand
• Homebuilding gross margin was 22.8%, up 330 basis points. Excluding impairments, abandonments and amortized interest, homebuilding gross margin was 25.9%, up 270 basis points
• SG&A as a percentage of total revenue was 8.9%, down 210 basis points
• Net new orders of 704, down 34.1% on a 36.3% decrease in sales/community/month to 1.9, partially offset by a 3.4% increase in average community count to 123
• Retired a total of $66.6 million of debt
• Repurchased $5.6 million of shares through open market transactions
• Unrestricted cash at quarter end was $214.6 million; total liquidity was $459.1 million

The following provides additional details on the Company’s performance during the fiscal fourth quarter 2022:

Profitability. Net income from continuing operations was $86.8 million, generating diluted earnings per share of $2.82. This included the impact of tax credits of $3.1 million, or $0.10 per share, a $2.0 million inventory impairment and abandonment charge and a $0.4 million gain on extinguishment of debt. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $143.3 million was up $67.3 million, or 88.4%, year-over-year. The increase in profitability was primarily driven by higher homebuilding gross margin.

Orders. Net new orders for the fourth quarter decreased to 704, down 34.1% from the prior year period. The decrease in net new orders was driven by a 36.3% decrease in sales pace to 1.9 orders per community per month, down from 3.0 in the previous year period, partially offset by a 3.4% increase in average community count to 123. The cancellation rate for the quarter was 32.8%, up from 11.7% in the previous year, reflecting the weakening in housing demand as a result of the sharp increase in mortgage rates.

Backlog. The dollar value of homes in backlog as of September 30, 2022 was $1.1 billion, representing 2,091 homes, compared to $1.3 billion, representing 2,786 homes, at the same time last year. The average selling price of homes in backlog was $547.5 thousand, up 18.8% year-over-year.

Homebuilding Revenue. Fourth quarter homebuilding revenue was $825.4 million, up 40.1% year-over-year. The increase in homebuilding revenue was driven by a 14.9% increase in home closings to 1,616 homes and a 22.0% increase in average selling price to $510.7 thousand.

Homebuilding Gross Margin. Homebuilding gross margin (excluding impairments, abandonments, and amortized interest) was 25.9% for the fourth quarter, up 270 basis points year-over-year, driven primarily by pricing increases and lower sales incentives.

SG&A Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue was 8.9% for the quarter, down 210 basis points year-over-year primarily due to increases in closings and revenue.

Land Position. Controlled lots increased 14.5% to 25,170, compared to 21,987 from the prior year. Excluding land held for future development and land held for sale lots, active controlled lots were 24,397, up 13.9% year-over-year. Through the expansion of lot option agreements, 54.6% of total active lots, or 13,312 lots, were under contract compared to 46.6% of total active lots, or 9,992 lots, as of September 30, 2021.

Debt and Share Repurchases. During the quarter, the Company reduced debt by $66.6 million, which consisted of a $50.0 million repayment of its Senior Unsecured Term Loan and $16.6 million of repurchases of its 6.750% unsecured Senior Notes due March 2025 at an average price of $97.13 per $100 principal amount. In addition, the Company repurchased $5.6 million of shares through open market transactions during the quarter.

Liquidity. At the close of the fourth quarter, the Company had $459.1 million of available liquidity, including $214.6 million of unrestricted cash and $244.5 million of remaining capacity under the secured revolving credit facility.

New Senior Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility. On October 13, 2022, the Company entered into a senior unsecured revolving credit facility with committed borrowing capacity of $265.0 million, which replaced our existing $250.0 million secured revolving credit facility.

Commitment to ESG Initiatives

The Company is pleased to have received the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence Award for the seventh consecutive year. Beazer continues to make improvements in energy efficiency in support of its industry-first pledge that, by the end of 2025, every home the Company builds will be Net Zero Energy Ready with a gross HERS^® index score of 45 or less. Beazer's Net Zero Energy Ready homes will meet the requirements of both the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home program. For fiscal 2022, the average new Beazer home has a gross HERS^® index score of 54.

During fiscal 2022, Charity Title Agency made $1.5 million of charitable contributions to Beazer Charity Foundation, the Company's philanthropic arm. Beazer Charity Foundation is a nonprofit entity that provides donations to unrelated national and local nonprofits. Partnering with charitable organizations at national and local levels aligns the Foundation's financial contributions with opportunities for our employees to have a positive impact on the communities we serve.

In April 2022, Beazer Homes was ranked first among construction companies in Newsweek's inaugural list of America's Most Trusted Companies 2022, which were identified based on an independent survey of approximately 50,000 U.S. residents who rated companies they knew from the perspective of customers, investors and employees. This award demonstrated recognition for our efforts to create and sustain a strong reputation among employees, shareholders, customers and other partners.

Summary results for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

Summary results for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

Conference Call

The Company will hold a conference call on November 10, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss these results. The public may listen to the conference call and view the Company’s slide presentation on the “Investor Relations” page of the Company’s website at www.beazer.com. In addition, the conference call will be available by telephone at 800-475-0542 (for international callers, dial 517-308-9429). To be admitted to the call, enter the passcode “8571348.” A replay of the conference call will be available, until 10:00 PM ET on November 18, 2022 at 866-566-0411 (for international callers, dial 203-369-3041) with pass code “3740.”

About Beazer Homes

Headquartered in Atlanta, Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) is one of the country’s largest homebuilders. Every Beazer home is designed and built to provide Surprising Performance, giving you more quality and more comfort from the moment you move in – saving you money every month. With Beazer's Choice Plans^®, you can personalize your primary living areas – giving you a choice of how you want to live in the home, at no additional cost. And unlike most national homebuilders, we empower our customers to shop and compare loan options. Our Mortgage Choice program gives you the resources to easily compare multiple loan offers and choose the best lender and loan offer for you, saving you thousands over the life of your loan.

We build our homes in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. For more information, visit beazer.com, or check out Beazer on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations or beliefs concerning future events, and it is possible that the results described in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things: (i) the cyclical nature of the homebuilding industry and further deterioration in homebuilding industry conditions; (ii) continued increases in mortgage interest rates and reduced availability of mortgage financing due to, among other factors, recent and likely continued actions by the Federal Reserve to address sharp increases in inflation; (iii) other economic changes nationally and in local markets, including changes in consumer confidence, wage levels, declines in employment levels, and an increase in the number of foreclosures, each of which is outside our control and affects the affordability of, and demand for, the homes we sell; (iv) continued supply chain challenges negatively impacting our homebuilding production, including shortages of raw materials and other critical components such as windows, doors, and appliances; (v) continued shortages of or increased costs for labor used in housing production, and the level of quality and craftsmanship provided by such labor; (vi) inaccurate estimates related to homes to be delivered in the future (backlog), as they are subject to various cancellation risks that cannot be fully controlled; (vii) potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, in addition to exacerbating each of the risks listed above and below, may include a significant decrease in demand for our homes or consumer confidence generally with respect to purchasing a home, an inability to sell and build homes in a typical manner or at all, increased costs or decreased supply of building materials, including lumber, or the availability of subcontractors, housing inspectors, and other third-parties we rely on to support our operations, and recognizing charges in future periods, which may be material, for goodwill impairments, inventory impairments and/or land option agreement abandonments; (viii) factors affecting margins, such as increased sales incentives and mortgage rate buy down programs; decreased revenues; decreased land values underlying land option agreements; increased land development costs in communities under development or delays or difficulties in implementing initiatives to reduce our production and overhead cost structure; not being able to pass on cost increases through pricing increases; (ix) the availability and cost of land and the risks associated with the future value of our inventory, such as asset impairment charges we took on select California assets during the second quarter of fiscal 2019; (x) our ability to raise debt and/or equity capital, due to factors such as limitations in the capital markets (including market volatility) or adverse credit market conditions, and our ability to otherwise meet our ongoing liquidity needs (which could cause us to fail to meet the terms of our covenants and other requirements under our various debt instruments and therefore trigger an acceleration of a significant portion or all of our outstanding debt obligations), including the impact of any downgrades of our credit ratings or reduction in our liquidity levels; (xi) market perceptions regarding any capital raising initiatives we may undertake (including future issuances of equity or debt capital); (xii) changes in tax laws or otherwise regarding the deductibility of mortgage interest expenses and real estate taxes; (xiii) increased competition or delays in reacting to changing consumer preferences in home design; (xiv) natural disasters or other related events that could result in delays in land development or home construction, increase our costs or decrease demand in the impacted areas; (xv) the potential recoverability of our deferred tax assets; (xvi) increases in corporate tax rates; (xvii) potential delays or increased costs in obtaining necessary permits as a result of changes to, or complying with, laws, regulations or governmental policies, and possible penalties for failure to comply with such laws, regulations or governmental policies, including those related to the environment; (xviii) the results of litigation or government proceedings and fulfillment of any related obligations; (xix) the impact of construction defect and home warranty claims; (xx) the cost and availability of insurance and surety bonds, as well as the sufficiency of these instruments to cover potential losses incurred; (xxi) the impact of information technology failures, cybersecurity issues or data security breaches; (xxii) the impact of governmental regulations on homebuilding in key markets, such as regulations limiting the availability of water; (xxiii) the success of our ESG initiatives, including our ability to meet our goal that every home we build will be Net Zero Energy Ready by 2025 as well as the success of any other related partnerships or pilot programs we may enter into in order to increase the energy efficiency of our homes and prepare for a Net Zero future; and (xxiv) terrorist acts, protests and civil unrest, political uncertainty, acts of war or other factors over which the Company has no control.

Any forward-looking statement, including any statement expressing confidence regarding future outcomes, speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all such factors.

-Tables Follow-

Reconciliation of homebuilding gross profit and the related gross margin excluding impairments and abandonments, and interest amortized to cost of sales to homebuilding gross profit and gross margin, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is provided for each period discussed below. Management believes that this information assists investors in comparing the operating characteristics of homebuilding activities by eliminating many of the differences in companies' respective level of impairments and level of debt. These measures should not be considered alternatives to homebuilding gross profit and gross margin determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance.

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to total company net income, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, is provided for each period discussed below. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA assists investors in understanding and comparing the operating characteristics of homebuilding activities by eliminating many of the differences in companies' respective capitalization, tax position, and level of impairments. These EBITDA measures should not be considered alternatives to net income determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of operating performance.

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