Toll Brothers profit falls 19%, outlook is lowered

USA Today reports:

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers (TOL) said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit fell 19% as a downturn in the housing market resulted in a dip in revenue.

The company lowered its outlook for the year. But the latest results and guidance for the future were still above Wall Street expectations; its shares gained about 3% to $25.50 in pre-market trading.

For the quarter ended July 31, net income was $174.6 million, or $1.07 a share, compared with $215.5 million, or $1.27 a share, a year earlier.

The company reduced the number of lots it controls to about 82,900, down from 91,200 at the end of the second quarter. Toll Brothers said it will continue to evaluate its inventory and may drop options to buy land it no longer considers attractive.

Look at this monthly chart of Toll Brothers.Even this high end homebuilder lost half its' value in a fairly short time.