Shares of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV, Financial) jumped more than 2% on the back of the company reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, which ended Oct. 31. The company posted adjusted EPS of eight cents on revenue of $721.69 million, which represented a 10.4% decline from the prior-year quarter. The company beat EPS expectations by six cents, and revenue beat the consensus estimate by $113.02 million.
Chairman, President and CEO Ara K. Hovnanian said the results were impacted by improvements in the gross margin and the greater number of contracts per community. Contracts per community, including unconsolidated joint ventures, increased 16.2% to 8.6 contracts per community compared with 7.4 contracts in the same period last year. Further, operational improvements contributed to profitability.
“Although we are taking steps to increase our future community count, our 2017 deliveries and revenues were impacted by a decrease in our community count, which resulted from the decisions we made in fiscal 2016 to exit four underperforming markets, convert a number of wholly owned communities to joint ventures and temporarily reduce land spend, in order to pay off $320 million of maturing debt,” Hovnanian said.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY, Financial)Ă‚ traded lower on Thursday after reporting third-quarter results Wednesday evening. It recorded EPS of 44 cents on revenue of $2.96 billion. The company beat EPS expectations by seven cents and revenue by $60 million. The revenue was flat year over year.
Moreover, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, which is to be paid in April. During the quarter, the company repurchased approximately $24 million worth of its common stock.
Shares of Advaxis Inc. (ADXS, Financial)Ă‚ also traded lower after reporting a loss of $2.31 per diluted share for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $2.08 per share a year ago.
Interim CEO Anthony Lombardo is confident about executing a strategy to drive additional growth and expansion throughout the year.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
