Forestar Group Inc. is a U.S.-focused residential real estate development company whose common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FOR. The company is headquartered at 2221 East Lamar Boulevard in Arlington, Texas, and traces its origins to 1954, when it was established as Lumbermen’s Investment ...Forestar Group Inc. is a U.S.-focused residential real estate development company whose common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FOR. The company is headquartered at 2221 East Lamar Boulevard in Arlington, Texas, and traces its origins to 1954, when it was established as Lumbermen’s Investment Corporation. Forestar became a public company in 2007 and was subsequently repositioned as a specialized residential lot developer. Since 2017, it has operated as a majority-owned subsidiary of D.R. Horton, Inc., providing a strategic connection to one of the largest homebuilders in the United States.
Forestar’s core business is not the construction of completed homes for consumers. Instead, it focuses on the earlier stages of the housing supply chain. The company acquires raw or partially developed land, evaluates market demand, obtains or advances governmental entitlements, designs communities, coordinates engineering and construction activities, and develops the land into finished residential lots. These lots are then sold primarily to homebuilders, including D.R. Horton and other third-party builders, which construct single-family homes on the sites. Its work may include roads, utilities, drainage, grading, amenities, and other infrastructure required for a community to support home construction.
The company’s strategy emphasizes asset turns, disciplined land acquisition, capital efficiency, and limiting exposure to the direct costs and risks of vertical home construction. Its performance is influenced by housing demand, mortgage rates, employment, consumer confidence, homebuilder order activity, land prices, entitlement timelines, development costs, and the availability of construction financing. Because Forestar sells developed lots rather than finished homes, its revenue and cash flow can be affected by the timing of lot deliveries, community development schedules, and builder purchases.
Based on the supplied information, Forestar has approximately 433 full-time employees, placing it in the 201-500 employee category. Search information indicates operations in a broad and growing national footprint, including approximately 65 markets across 24 states, while other company descriptions cite operations in 51 markets across 21 states; the exact footprint can change as projects are added or completed. The company’s chief executive officer is Anthony (Andy) W. Oxley, who has served as president and CEO since January 2024 and previously held roles associated with D.R. Horton.
The supplied trailing-twelve-month data indicates approximately $1.51 billion in market capitalization, an enterprise value of about $1.93 billion, a 9.9% net profit margin, a 12.9% EBITDA margin, and free cash flow of approximately $187.1 million to equity. The company reported no dividend, reflecting a strategy oriented toward reinvestment and growth rather than regular cash distributions. Its reported debt-to-equity ratio was approximately 0.44, while its current and quick ratios were both about 1.04. These figures should be treated as period-specific and may change with subsequent filings and market movements.
Operator: Good morning, and welcome to Forestar's Third Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, participants have been after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Chris Hibbetts, vice president of finance and investor relations for Forestar.
Chris Hibbetts: Thank you, Jenny. Good morning, and welcome to our call to discuss Forestar's third quarter results. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that today's call includes forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 2000. Although Forestar believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Forestar. On the date of this conference call, and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. Additional information about factors that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in Forestar's annual report on Form 10-K And its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Both of which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our earnings release is on our website at investor.forestar.com. We plan to file our 10 Q later this week. After this call, we will post an updated investor presentation on our Investor Relations site under Events and Presentations for your reference. Now I will turn the call over to Andy Oxley, our President and CEO.
Anthony W. Oxley: Thanks, Chris. Good morning, everyone. I am also joined on the call today by Jim Allen, our chief Financial Officer; and Mark Stephen Walker, our Chief Operating Officer. The Forestar team achieved solid third quarter results with revenues of $407 million up 4% from the prior year quarter, on 3.66 thousand lots sold. Earnings per diluted share increased 8% to $0.70 and pretax income increased 12% to $48.7 million. Book value per share increased 10% from a year ago to $36.40 and our contracted backlog remains strong with visibility towards $2.3 billion of future revenue. Ongoing affordability constraints and cautious consumer sentiment continue to impact the pace of new home sales. In response, we are managing our inventory investments with discipline and flex flexibility, and we ended the quarter with approximately $1.1 billion of liquidity. We also reached a significant milestone this quarter, delivering our 100 thousandth lot since D.R. Horton made its transformative investment in Forestar in 2017. Forestar has grown to a proven scalable platform and we could not be prouder of what our teams have built to get us here. Looking ahead, we remain focused on turning our land and lot inventory efficiently, maximizing returns, and consolidating market share. With a strong balance sheet operating expertise, and a diverse national platform, Forestar is well positioned to navigate market conditions and extend its leadership …
