Hovnanian Enterprises Inc (HOVNP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for Hovnanian Enterprises Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. An archive of the webcast will be available after the completion of the call and run for 12 months. This conference is being recorded for rebroadcast and all participants are currently in listen-only mode. Management will make some opening remarks about the third quarter results and then open the line for questions. The company will also be webcasting a slide presentation along with the opening comments from management. The slides are available on the Investor page of the company's website at www.khov.com. Those listeners who would like to follow along should now log on to the website. I would like to turn the call over to Jeff O'Keefe, Vice President, Investor Relations. Jeff, please go ahead.

早上好，感謝您今天參加我們的 Hovnanian Enterprises 2023 財年第三季度收益電話會議。網絡廣播的存檔將在電話會議結束後提供，並持續 12 個月。該會議正在錄製以供重播，所有參與者當前均處於僅聽模式。管理層將就第三季度業績發表一些開場白，然後開放提問。該公司還將通過網絡廣播幻燈片演示以及管理層的開場評論。這些幻燈片可在該公司網站 www.khov.com 的投資者頁面上獲取。那些想要跟隨的聽眾現在應該登錄該網站。我想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Jeff O'Keefe。傑夫，請繼續。

Thank you, Liz, and thank you all for participating in this morning's call to review the results for our third quarter. All statements on this conference call that are not historical facts should be considered as forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to the company's goals and expectations with respect to the financial results for future financial periods.

謝謝莉茲，也感謝大家參加今天早上的電話會議，審查我們第三季度的業績。本次電話會議上所有非歷史事實的陳述均應被視為1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款含義內的前瞻性陳述。此類陳述涉及已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素，可能導致公司的實際結果、業績或成就與前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的任何未來結果、業績或成就存在重大差異。此類前瞻性陳述包括但不限於與公司目標和對未來財務期間財務業績的預期相關的陳述。

Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected and are suggested by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. By their nature, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, are not guarantees of future performance or results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict or quantify. Therefore, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors are described in detail in the sections entitled Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis, particularly the portion of MD&A entitled Safe Harbor Statement in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

儘管我們相信此類前瞻性陳述所反映和暗示的我們的計劃、意圖和期望是合理的，但我們不能保證此類計劃、意圖或期望將會實現。就其性質而言，前瞻性陳述僅代表其作出之日的情況，並非對未來業績或結果的保證，並且受到難以預測或量化的風險、不確定性和假設的影響。因此，由於多種因素的影響，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述存在重大和不利的差異。此類風險、不確定性和其他因素在標題為“風險因素”和“管理層討論與分析”的章節中進行了詳細描述，特別是我們截至2022 年10 月31 日的財務年度10-K 表格年度報告中題為MD&A 的“安全港聲明”的部分。 ，以及隨後向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。

Except as otherwise required by applicable security laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason. I'll now turn the call over to Ara Hovnanian, our Chairman, President and CEO. Go ahead, Ara.

除非適用的安全法另有要求，我們不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新信息、未來事件、情況變化還是任何其他原因。現在我將把電話轉給我們的董事長、總裁兼首席執行官 Ara Hovnanian。繼續吧，阿拉。

Thanks, Jeff. I'm going to review our third quarter results, and I'll comment on the current housing market. Given that Larry Sorsby, our CFO, will be retiring at year-end after 35 years at Hovnanian will give an opportunity for Brad O'Connor, our upcoming CFO to present today. Brad has been with us for almost 20 years, 12 years as Chief Accounting Officer and also in the past few years as Treasurer and has participated in all our calls since that time. Also joining us on this call is David Mitrison, our Vice President and Corporate Controller. As usual, we'll open it up to Q&A after.

謝謝，傑夫。我將回顧我們第三季度的業績，並對當前的房地產市場發表評論。鑑於我們的首席財務官拉里·索爾斯比(Larry Sorsby) 在Hovnanian 工作了35 年後將於年底退休，我們即將上任的首席財務官布拉德·奧康納(Brad O'Connor) 將有機會在今天發言。 Brad 已在我們工作了近 20 年，其中 12 年擔任首席會計官，過去幾年還擔任財務主管，自那時以來一直參與我們的所有電話會議。我們的副總裁兼公司財務總監 David Mitrison 也加入了我們的電話會議。像往常一樣，我們將在之後進行問答。

Our third quarter results were excellent. However, as we review our results, keep in mind that comparisons to last year are challenging for some metrics and very easy for others as we'll discuss. The doubling of mortgage rates during fiscal '22 caused the entire industry's home sales to fall substantially in the second half of the year. To spur sales activity, starting last summer, we and most of the industry offered increased incentives, which resulted in lower margins on new contracts at that time. As a result of those lower margins and the reduction in sales pace in the second half of '22, many of our third quarter profit metrics are challenging year-over-year comparisons.

我們第三季度的業績非常出色。然而，當我們回顧我們的結果時，請記住，與去年的比較對於某些指標來說是具有挑戰性的，而對於其他指標來說則很容易，正如我們將討論的那樣。 22財年抵押貸款利率翻倍導致下半年整個行業的房屋銷售大幅下降。為了刺激銷售活動，從去年夏天開始，我們和大多數行業提供了更多的激勵措施，這導致當時新合同的利潤率較低。由於 22 年下半年利潤率下降和銷售速度放緩，我們第三季度的許多利潤指標與去年同期相比都面臨挑戰。

Fortunately, starting early this calendar year, demand for new homes bounced back, and we've seen strong sequential improvement in our profitability metrics and strong year-over-year performance in our net contract metrics. Based on the strong sales environment right through last weekend in August, we are increasing our full year '23 guidance, including a 20% increase in EPS. Additionally, while we're not ready to give a detailed guidance for the first quarter of '24, we are confident that our first quarter of '24 for which we are already building a very solid backlog will show significant year-over-year improvements.

幸運的是，從今年年初開始，新房需求反彈，我們的盈利指標連續強勁改善，淨合同指標同比表現強勁。基於截至 8 月上週末的強勁銷售環境，我們提高了 23 年全年指引，包括每股收益增長 20%。此外，雖然我們還沒有準備好為 24 年第一季度提供詳細的指導，但我們相信，我們已經建立了非常堅實的積壓工作的 24 年第一季度將顯示出顯著的同比改進。

On Slide 5, on the left side, you see our revenues of $650 million were less than last year. But -- and it's obviously for all the reasons I just discussed a moment ago. But you'll also see on the right-hand portion of the slide, they were within the guidance range we gave.

在幻燈片 5 的左側，您可以看到我們的收入為 6.5 億美元，比去年少。但是——這顯然是出於我剛才討論的所有原因。但您還會在幻燈片的右側部分看到，它們在我們給出的指導範圍內。

On the left-hand side of Slide 6, we show that total SG&A was 11.6% and was higher than last year. However, as we show on the right-hand portion of the slide, our SG&A was also well within our guidance. The SG&A percentage was higher primarily due to lower delivery volume.

在幻燈片 6 的左側，我們顯示總 SG&A 為 11.6%，高於去年。然而，正如我們在幻燈片右側部分所示，我們的 SG&A 也完全在我們的指導範圍內。 SG&A 百分比較高主要是由於交付量減少。

On Slide 7, in the upper left-hand portion of the slide, we show that our adjusted gross margin for the third quarter of '23 was strong at 23.2%. While this is down compared to last year's third quarter, keep in mind that last year's gross margin was historically one of our highest gross margin quarters. If you look to the upper right-hand portion of the slide, you can see that gross margin increased 230 basis points from the second quarter to the third quarter. And finally, on the bottom, you can see that our third quarter gross margin exceeded the high end of our guidance.

在幻燈片 7 的左上角部分，我們顯示 2023 年第三季度的調整後毛利率高達 23.2%。儘管與去年第三季度相比有所下降，但請記住，去年的毛利率歷來是我們毛利率最高的季度之一。如果您查看幻燈片的右上角，您會發現毛利率從第二季度到第三季度增加了 230 個基點。最後，在底部，您可以看到我們第三季度的毛利率超過了我們指導的上限。

Turning to Slide 8. In the top left-hand corner of the slide, we show that adjusted EBITDA was $109 million compared to $147 million last year. Moving to the upper right-hand portion of the slide, again, while it was lower than last year, it improved 26% sequentially. On the bottom of the slide, you can also see that EBITDA was well above the guidance range of $85 million to $95 million.

轉向幻燈片 8。在幻燈片的左上角，我們顯示調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.09 億美元，而去年為 1.47 億美元。再看一下幻燈片的右上角，雖然低於去年，但環比提高了 26%。在幻燈片底部，您還可以看到 EBITDA 遠高於 8500 萬美元至 9500 萬美元的指導範圍。

In the upper left-hand portion of Slide 9, you can see that our adjusted pretax income was $75 million in the quarter compared to $113 million last year. In the upper right-hand corner, like many other metrics, it has improved sequentially, up 62% from $46 million in the second quarter of '23. And at the bottom of the slide, you can see that our income before taxes was also well above the high end of our guidance range.

在幻燈片 9 的左上部分，您可以看到本季度調整後的稅前收入為 7500 萬美元，而去年為 1.13 億美元。與許多其他指標一樣，右上角的指標也連續有所改善，比 2023 年第二季度的 4600 萬美元增長了 62%。在幻燈片的底部，您可以看到我們的稅前收入也遠高於我們指導範圍的上限。

On Slide 10, you can see that our net income for the third quarter of '23 was $56 million compared to net income of $83 million in last year's third quarter.

在幻燈片 10 上，您可以看到我們 2023 年第三季度的淨利潤為 5600 萬美元，而去年第三季度的淨利潤為 8300 萬美元。

Turning to Slide 11. On this slide, you can see that contracts per community for the third quarter increased 92% year-over-year. While last year was an easy comparison, at 14.2 contracts per community, we are clearly above the levels that we achieved in any third quarter for many years other than the COVID surge in contracts in 2020. On the left-hand portion of the slide, you can see that we averaged 11.4 contracts per community during the third quarter from '97 to '02 period, we often refer to as a more normalized neither peak nor bust period. So the third quarter of '23 also exceeded the levels we achieved in more normal times.

轉向幻燈片 11。在這張幻燈片上，您可以看到第三季度每個社區的合同同比增長 92%。雖然去年是一個簡單的比較，每個社區有 14.2 個合同，但我們明顯高於除 2020 年新冠肺炎合同激增之外多年來任何第三季度所達到的水平。在幻燈片的左側部分，您可以看到，從97 年到02 年第三季度，我們每個社區平均簽訂了11.4 個合同，我們通常將其稱為更加正常化的高峰期或蕭條期。因此，23 年第三季度也超過了我們在正常時期達到的水平。

On Slide 12, we give more granularity and show the trend of monthly contracts per community compared to the same month in '22 and '21 for May through July. The slide shows contracts per community, including and excluding build-for-rent contracts. No matter how you look at it, our sales pace has improved significantly and even compares favorably to '21 for 2 of the 3 months shown on this slide. It is somewhat surprising given the strong sales during the COVID surge that we experienced in '21.

在幻燈片 12 上，我們提供了更詳細的信息，並顯示了 5 月至 7 月與 22 年和 21 年同月相比每個社區的月度合同趨勢。該幻燈片顯示了每個社區的合同，包括和不包括建造租賃合同。無論您如何看待，我們的銷售速度都已顯著提高，甚至在這張幻燈片所示的 3 個月中，有 2 個月的銷售速度與 21 年相比毫不遜色。考慮到我們在 21 年經歷的新冠肺炎疫情期間的強勁銷售，這有點令人驚訝。

More recently, the sales pace for the past 2 months has leveled off, but at a very solid level. While August is not over, our contracts to date as of last Sunday, are up 56% over last year. We continue to see demand in our build-for-rent opportunities. While build for rent opportunities reduce our normal for-sale opportunities, the returns in this segment are very solid. Over the longer term, build for rent should be additive to our total deliveries and will likely be a long-term part of our strategy.

最近，過去兩個月的銷售速度已趨於平穩，但處於非常穩定的水平。雖然 8 月尚未結束，但截至上週日，我們的合同比去年增加了 56%。我們繼續看到對我們的出租機會的需求。雖然出租機會減少了我們正常的出售機會，但這一領域的回報非常穩定。從長遠來看，出租建築應該會增加我們的總交付量，並且很可能成為我們戰略的長期組成部分。

Turning to Slide 13. You can see the month-by-month progression of our seasonally adjusted annualized contract pace per community. The chart shows that the contract pace bottomed out in the fall of '22 and has improved steadily to current levels. Once again, on this slide, you can see the impact of BFR contracts that predominantly fell in the month of June and the outperformance we achieved that month. But even without the BFR sales in the month of June, the seasonally adjusted and annualized pace was still very strong at 45.9 .

轉向幻燈片 13。您可以看到每個社區經季節性調整的年化合同速度逐月進展。該圖表顯示，合同速度在 22 年秋季觸底，並已穩步改善至當前水平。在這張幻燈片上，您可以再次看到 6 月份主要下跌的 BFR 合約的影響以及我們當月取得的優異表現。但即使沒有 6 月份的 BFR 銷售，經季節調整和年化增速仍然非常強勁，達到 45.9 。

Demonstrating the strength of the housing market through July, our sales even without the benefit of BFR didn't have the typical summer fall off, and the sales pace in the months of May and June were as strong as any month in the spring selling season, which is unusual and speaks to the continued strength in the market in spite of the raise in interest rates.

即使沒有 BFR 的幫助，我們的銷售也沒有出現典型的夏季下滑，並且 5 月和 6 月的銷售速度與春季銷售季節的任何月份一樣強勁，這證明了整個 7 月房地產市場的強勁勢頭，這是不尋常的，說明儘管利率上升，市場仍持續走強。

Turning to Slide 14, we show annual contracts per community. On the far left-hand side, you can see our more normalized pace of 44, for that period I discussed before of '97 through '02. In the middle of the slide, you can see our annual contracts per community for the past 9 fiscal years. And on the right-hand portion of the slide, you can see our recent seasonally adjusted contracts per community by month for the past 3 months. I want to point out our annualized sales pace for the months of May through July exceeded the pace for the 6 years prior to the COVID surge.

轉向幻燈片 14，我們顯示了每個社區的年度合同。在最左側，您可以看到我們更標準化的速度 44，這是我之前討論過的 97 年到 02 年期間的速度。在幻燈片中間，您可以看到過去 9 個財年每個社區的年度合同。在幻燈片的右側部分，您可以看到我們最近 3 個月內每個社區按月的季節性調整合同。我想指出的是，我們 5 月至 7 月的年化銷售速度超過了新冠疫情激增之前 6 年的速度。

Turning to Slide 15. Here, we show our contracts per community as if our quarter ended on June 30, '23 and compared to our peers that report contracts per community on a June quarter end basis. At 15.7 contracts per community, we have the second highest absorption rate among our peers during this period.

轉向幻燈片15。在這裡，我們顯示了每個社區的合同，就好像我們的季度於2023 年6 月30 日結束一樣，並與按6 月季度末報告每個社區的合同的同行進行了比較。每個社區有 15.7 個合約，我們在此期間的吸收率在同行中排名第二。

On Slide 16, you can see that our year-over-year growth in contracts per community for the same period was also the second highest among our peers. These last 2 slides illustrate that we're not only competitive but we're getting more than our fair share of contracts to be had in the strong new home market. Through this last weekend, weekly traffic in our communities and website visits are both continuing at very healthy levels, surprisingly close to '21 levels, indicating that future demand for new homes should remain strong.

在幻燈片 16 上，您可以看到我們同期每個社區的合同同比增長也是同行中第二高的。最後兩張幻燈片表明，我們不僅具有競爭力，而且在強勁的新房市場中獲得的合同數量超出了我們應得的份額。截至上週末，我們社區的每周流量和網站訪問量均繼續保持在非常健康的水平，令人驚訝地接近 21 世紀的水平，這表明未來對新房的需求應該會保持強勁。

One of the reasons we've been able to maintain such a strong sales pace is due to our pivot to start more quick move-in homes or QMIs as we call them. The logic behind this pivot is that QMIs provide our customers with more certainty on what their mortgage payments will be at closing. We consider a home to be a QMI the day we begin vertical construction. We're still evaluating whether this pivot will be more permanent on a long-term basis. We do definitely like the benefit right now of having a large number of QMIs along with build-to-order homes. In the interim, we've greatly reduced the complexity of choices for our customers and significantly increase the efficiencies for our trades and construction and purchasing teams.

我們能夠保持如此強勁的銷售速度的原因之一是我們的重點是啟動更多快速入住房屋或我們所說的 QMI。這一支點背後的邏輯是，QMI 為我們的客戶提供了更多確定性，讓他們能夠更加確定交割時的抵押貸款還款額。從我們開始垂直建造的那天起，我們就將房屋視為 QMI。我們仍在評估這種轉向從長遠來看是否會更加持久。我們確實喜歡現在擁有大量 QMI 以及按訂單建造的房屋所帶來的好處。在此期間，我們大大降低了客戶選擇的複雜性，並顯著提高了我們的貿易、施工和採購團隊的效率。

If you turn to Slide 17, you can see that after a significant shortage of QMIs during the COVID surge in demand, we've gone from 3.2 QMIs per community. At the end of last year's third quarter to 6.7 QMIs at the end of the third quarter of '23. The pickup in our sales pace has made it challenging to increase the number of QMIs as quickly as we wanted. However, we're very close to our goal of about 7 QMIs per community.

如果您翻到幻燈片 17，您可以看到，在 COVID 需求激增期間 QMI 嚴重短缺之後，我們已經將每個社區的 QMI 數量從 3.2 個減少到了。去年第三季度末的 QMI 為 23 年第三季度末的 6.7。我們銷售速度的加快使得按照我們想要的速度增加 QMI 數量變得充滿挑戰。然而，我們非常接近每個社區大約 7 個 QMI 的目標。

Some investors have definitely feared that homebuilders will overproduce QMIs, that's been a fear for the last year, we just do not see that in the field. Our focus continues to be to sell these QMIs before they are completed. We're particularly pleased to see that even though we increased the absolute number of QMIs by 139 from the second quarter to the third quarter, the number of finished QMIs declined from 127 to 100. The demand for QMIs is particularly strong when they are between 30 and 60 days of completion.

一些投資者肯定擔心房屋建築商會過度生產 QMI，這是去年的擔憂，我們只是在現場沒有看到這種情況。我們的重點仍然是在這些 QMI 完成之前將其出售。我們特別高興地看到，儘管我們從第二季度到第三季度將 QMI 的絕對數量增加了 139 個，但成品 QMI 的數量從 127 個下降到 100 個。當 QMI 處於30天和60天完成。

Since the beginning of the year, we've seen our QMI sales increase to about 56% of our sales versus 40% historically. At this point, we plan to match our start schedule with our current sales pace at each community and keep the overall level of QMIs steady on a per community basis.

自今年年初以來，我們的 QMI 銷售額佔銷售額的比例從歷史上的 40% 增至約 56%。目前，我們計劃將每個社區的啟動時間表與當前的銷售節奏相匹配，並保持每個社區的 QMI 總體水平穩定。

On Slide 18, we show that the number of existing homes for sale around the country currently remains depressed at 980,000 homes. That's less than half of the historical average, which is over 2 million homes. The lower level of existing homes for sale certainly helps our sales and validates our QMI strategy. Consumers have fewer existing homes to choose from, and as a result, more homebuyers are turning to new construction than in the past. Having QMIs available for sale is also important because just like existing homes, homebuyers can close much sooner on a QMI than on a to-be-built home and it allows customers more certainty on mortgage rates. This strategy has clearly helped fuel our growth in contracts and our growth in contracts per community.

在幻燈片 18 中，我們顯示全國各地待售現房數量目前仍然低迷，為 980,000 套。這還不到歷史平均水平（超過 200 萬戶）的一半。較低的待售房屋水平無疑有助於我們的銷售並驗證我們的 QMI 策略。消費者可供選擇的現有房屋越來越少，因此，與過去相比，更多的購房者轉向新建房屋。讓 QMI 可供出售也很重要，因為就像現有房屋一樣，QMI 的購房者可以比待建房屋更快地成交，而且它可以讓客戶對抵押貸款利率更有確定性。這一戰略顯然有助於推動我們的合同增長以及每個社區合同的增長。

Moving to Slide 19. Due to the increasing strength of demand for our homes, we were able to raise net home prices in 30% of our communities during the first quarter. We raised home prices again in 69% of our communities during the second quarter, and we raised them again in 71% of our communities during the third quarter. Many of our communities raised prices multiple times this year. If demand remains strong, we expect to be able to continue to increase home prices moving forward. These net home price increases I'm referring to, by the way, include reductions in incentives and concessions. I want to emphasize that we have not assumed any further home price increases in our guidance. We're optimistic about our future growth prospects. Furthermore, we believe that favorable demographics, persistently low supply of existing homes and a positive employment trend will support demand over the long term.

轉到幻燈片 19。由於對房屋的需求不斷增加，我們在第一季度提高了 30% 社區的淨房價。第二季度我們再次上調了69%的社區的房價，第三季度我們再次上調了71%的社區的房價。今年我們的許多社區多次提價。如果需求保持強勁，我們預計未來房價將繼續上漲。順便說一下，我指的這些房價淨增長包括激勵措施和優惠的減少。我想強調的是，我們的指導中並未假設房價會進一步上漲。我們對未來的增長前景感到樂觀。此外，我們認為有利的人口結構、持續較低的現有住房供應量以及積極的就業趨勢將長期支撐需求。

I'll now turn it over to Brad O'Connor, our Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer.

現在我將把它交給我們的首席會計官兼財務主管布拉德·奧康納。

Thank you, Ara. I'm going to start with Slide 20. You can see that we ended the quarter with 122 communities open for sale. During the quarter, we contributed 8 active wholly owned communities to a new joint venture. Our joint ventures are performing well and continue to be an ongoing part of our strategy and core operations. Moving these 3 communities to a new JV, along with a faster-than-anticipated sales pace, led us to only having 102 wholly owned communities at the end of the third quarter. Our number of communities opened for sale would have been higher. However, utility company delays continued to slow down our ability to open new communities. The entire industry is experiencing delays in land development, particularly given the shortage of transformers. The only positive to these delays is that it keeps the supply of new developments in the market low. We expect our community count to grow in the fourth quarter of fiscal '23 and further in fiscal '24.

謝謝你，阿拉。我將從幻燈片 20 開始。您可以看到，截至本季度末，我們有 122 個社區可供出售。本季度，我們向一家新合資企業貢獻了 8 個活躍的全資社區。我們的合資企業表現良好，並繼續成為我們戰略和核心業務的持續組成部分。將這 3 個社區遷至新的合資企業，加上銷售速度快於預期，導致我們在第三季度末僅擁有 102 個全資社區。我們開放出售的社區數量會更多。然而，公用事業公司的延誤繼續減緩了我們開設新社區的能力。整個行業都在經歷土地開發的延遲，特別是考慮到變壓器的短缺。這些延遲的唯一積極因素是，它使市場上新開發項目的供應量保持在較低水平。我們預計我們的社區數量將在 23 財年第四季度增長，並在 24 財年進一步增長。

Before I move on, I want to comment on the other expenses line from our income statement. During the third quarter, we assumed control of one of our unconsolidated joint ventures after our partner received their final cash distribution, but before the communities were finished. Under GAAP, we were required to consolidate the joint venture at fair value. And based on the extremely strong performance of these communities, we recorded a $19 million gain in the other income and expense line upon consolidation. After the consolidation, these same 3 communities were put into a new unconsolidated joint venture at the higher fair value agreed to by the third-party partner.

在繼續之前，我想評論一下損益表中的其他費用項目。第三季度，在我們的合作夥伴收到最終現金分配後、社區竣工之前，我們控制了一家未合併的合資企業。根據公認會計原則，我們需要按公允價值合併合資企業。基於這些社區極其強勁的表現，我們在合併後的其他收入和支出項目中記錄了 1900 萬美元的收益。合併後，這三個社區按照第三方合作夥伴同意的較高公允價值納入一家新的未合併合資企業。

Turning to Slide 21. During the rapid increase in mortgage rates last summer, we suspended most new land acquisitions for a few quarters. As a result, our lot count has declined slightly from the prior year. However, at the end of the third quarter, we saw a very modest sequential increase in total lots controlled. We ended the third quarter of fiscal '23 with 29,487 lots, you will notice that while our total lots controlled increased this quarter, lots owned continue to decrease as we continue to focus on lot options and high inventory turns. Given the strength of the new home market over the past 7 months, our land teams are once again actively engaging with land sellers and negotiating for new land parcels that meet our underwriting standards. Our corporate land committee calendar continues to fill up, which is an indication that our lot count should bottom out here. By using current home prices, current construction cost and current sales pace to underwrite to a 20-plus percent internal rate of return, our underwriting standards automatically self-adjust to changes in market conditions.

轉向幻燈片 21。去年夏天抵押貸款利率快速上漲期間，我們暫停了幾個季度的大部分新土地收購。因此，我們的批次數量較上一年略有下降。然而，在第三季度末，我們看到控制的總批次數量出現了非常溫和的連續增長。我們在23 財年第三季度結束時擁有29,487 塊地塊，您會注意到，雖然本季度我們控制的地塊總數有所增加，但隨著我們繼續關注地塊選擇和高庫存周轉，擁有的地塊繼續減少。鑑於過去7個月新房市場的強勁表現，我們的土地團隊再次積極與土地賣家接觸，並就符合我們承保標準的新地塊進行談判。我們的企業土地委員會日曆繼續排滿，這表明我們的地塊數量應該觸底。通過使用當前房價、當前建築成本和當前銷售速度來承保 20% 以上的內部回報率，我們的承保標準會自動根據市場條件的變化進行自我調整。

On Slide 22, we show our percentage of lots controlled by option, increased from 46% in the third quarter of fiscal 2015 to 73% in the third quarter of fiscal '23. This has been a focus of our land strategy, and we continue to make progress. A low percentage of owned lots strongly mitigates land risk.

在幻燈片 22 上，我們展示了期權控制的地塊百分比，從 2015 財年第三季度的 46% 增加到 23 財年第三季度的 73%。這是我們土地戰略的重點，我們正在不斷取得進展。低比例的自有土地大大降低了土地風險。

Turning now to Slide 23. Compared to our peers, you see that we have one of the higher percentages of land controlled via options and we are significantly above median. We continue to use land options wherever possible to achieve higher inventory turns enhance our returns on capital and to reduce risk.

現在轉向幻燈片 23。與我們的同行相比，您會發現我們是通過期權控制土地比例較高的國家之一，並且明顯高於中位數。我們繼續盡可能使用土地選擇，以實現更高的庫存周轉率，提高我們的資本回報率並降低風險。

Turning now to Slide 24. We show years supply of owned lots for us and our peers. With 1.6 years supply of owned lots we have the third lowest years supply, having a shorter supply of owned lots combined with a strong supply of option lots is an effective way to mitigate land risk.

現在轉向幻燈片 24。我們展示了我們和我們的同行多年來擁有的土地的供應量。自有地塊供應年限為 1.6 年，我們的年供應量排名第三，自有地塊供應量較短，加上期權地塊供應強勁，是降低土地風險的有效方法。

On Slide 25, including both owned and option lots, you can see that we have 5.9 years supply of controlled land slightly above median for our group.

在幻燈片 25 上，包括自有地塊和期權地塊，您可以看到我們擁有 5.9 年的受控土地供應量，略高於我們集團的中值。

Turning now to Slide 26. Compared to our peers, we continue to have the third highest inventory turnover rate. High inventory turns are a key component of our overall strategy. We believe we have opportunities to continue to increase our use of land options and to further improve both inventory turns and our returns on inventory in future periods.

現在轉向幻燈片 26。與同行相比，我們的庫存周轉率仍然排名第三。高庫存周轉率是我們整體戰略的關鍵組成部分。我們相信，我們有機會繼續增加土地選擇的使用，並進一步提高未來時期的庫存周轉率和庫存回報率。

One way to improve our inventory turns is by shortening our cycle times. We made good progress in doing this from April through July when our cycle times came down by 37 days.

提高庫存周轉率的一種方法是縮短週期時間。從 4 月到 7 月，我們在這方面取得了良好進展，週期時間縮短了 37 天。

Turning to Slide 27. After $169 million of new land and land development spend in our third quarter and retiring early $100 million dollars of bonds in May we ended the quarter with $456 million of liquidity, more than $200 million above the high end of our targeted liquidity range.

轉向幻燈片27。第三季度新增土地和土地開發支出1.69 億美元，並於5 月份提前收回1 億美元債券後，本季度結束時，我們的流動資金為4.56 億美元，比我們目標的上限高出2 億多美元。流動性範圍。

Turning now to Slide 28. On this slide, we show our debt maturity ladder at the end of the third quarter. During last year's fourth quarter, we amended our revolving credit facility to extend the maturity date to June 30, 2024. After that, we don't have any debt maturing until the first quarter of fiscal '26. Given our high liquidity position at the end of the third quarter, we announced in our press release this morning that we redeemed an additional $100 million of our 7.75% senior secured notes due 2026 in August. We have reduced total debt by $668 million since the beginning of fiscal '20. This latest debt reduction shows that we remain committed to strengthening our balance sheet.

現在轉向幻燈片 28。在這張幻燈片上，我們展示了第三季度末的債務到期階梯。在去年第四季度，我們修改了循環信貸安排，將到期日延長至 2024 年 6 月 30 日。此後，我們在 26 財年第一季度之前沒有任何債務到期。鑑於我們在第三季度末的高流動性狀況，我們在今天上午的新聞稿中宣布，我們額外贖回了 1 億美元的 2026 年 8 月到期、利率為 7.75% 的高級擔保票據。自 20 財年開始以來，我們已將總債務減少了 6.68 億美元。最新的債務削減表明我們仍然致力於加強我們的資產負債表。

Given our remaining $325 million of deferred tax assets, we will not have to pay federal income taxes on approximately $1.2 billion of future pretax earnings. To put that into perspective, at the midpoint of our guidance for fiscal '23, we will have earned $566 million of adjusted pretax income in the last 2 years. So the DTA should offset payment of cash taxes for several more years if the market holds somewhat steady to the current conditions. This benefit will continue to significantly enhance our cash flow in years to come and will accelerate our progress of paying down debt and improving our balance sheet.

鑑於我們剩餘的 3.25 億美元遞延稅資產，我們將無需為未來約 12 億美元的稅前收益繳納聯邦所得稅。從這個角度來看，在我們 23 財年指導的中點，我們將在過去兩年獲得 5.66 億美元的調整後稅前收入。因此，如果市場在目前狀況下保持一定程度的穩定，DTA 應該可以在未來幾年抵消現金稅的支付。這一好處將在未來幾年繼續顯著增強我們的現金流，並將加快我們償還債務和改善資產負債表的進度。

Our financial guidance for the full year of fiscal '23 assumes no adverse changes in current market conditions, including no further deterioration in our supply chain or material increases in mortgage rates, inflation or cancellation rates. Our guidance assumes continued extending construction cycle times averaging 5 to 6 months compared to our pre-covid cycle times for construction of approximately 4 months. Further, it excludes any impact to SG&A expenses from our phantom stock expense related solely to the stock price movement from our $106.62 stock price at the end of the third quarter of fiscal '23.

我們對 23 財年全年的財務指引假設當前市場狀況不會發生不利變化，包括我們的供應鏈不會進一步惡化或抵押貸款利率、通貨膨脹或取消利率不會大幅上升。我們的指導意見假設施工週期時間將繼續延長，平均為 5 至 6 個月，而疫情前的施工週期時間約為 4 個月。此外，它排除了我們的虛擬股票費用對 SG&A 費用的任何影響，該費用僅與 23 財年第三季度末 106.62 美元的股價變動相關。

On Slide 29, we show guidance for fiscal '23. We have improved our guidance again in virtually every metric. We expect total revenues for fiscal '23 to be between $2.6 billion and $2.7 billion. We also expect trusted gross margins to be in the range of 22% to 23%. SG&A as a percent of total revenues is expected to be between 11% and 12%. We increased our guidance for adjusted EBITDA by $30 million to a range between $350 million and $370 million. We also increased our expectations for adjusted annual pretax income for fiscal '23 by $35 million to be between $215 million and $235 million.

在幻燈片 29 上，我們展示了 23 財年的指導。我們幾乎在每一個指標上都再次改進了我們的指導。我們預計 23 財年的總收入將在 26 億美元至 27 億美元之間。我們還預計值得信賴的毛利率將在 22% 至 23% 之間。 SG&A 佔總收入的百分比預計在 11% 至 12% 之間。我們將調整後 EBITDA 指導提高了 3000 萬美元，達到 3.5 億至 3.7 億美元之間。我們還將 23 財年調整後年度稅前收入的預期上調了 3500 萬美元，達到 2.15 億至 2.35 億美元之間。

We expect our diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $21 to $24, book value per common share is expected to be between $66 and $68 at the end of the fourth quarter.

我們預計第四季度末稀釋後每股收益將在 21 美元至 24 美元之間，每股普通股賬面價值預計將在 66 美元至 68 美元之間。

Turning to Slide 30. Here, we show the progress we have made to date to reduce debt and our net debt to cap. Starting in the upper left-hand portion of the slide, we show the growth in equity over the past few years. And in the upper right-hand portion, you can see the progress we made in reducing our net debt. Including the redemption in August and assuming we have the same liquidity at the end of fiscal '23 that we did at the end of the third quarter, we will have reduced our net debt by $804 million since the beginning of fiscal '20.

轉向幻燈片 30。在這裡，我們展示了迄今為止我們在減少債務和淨債務上限方面所取得的進展。從幻燈片的左上角部分開始，我們展示了過去幾年股本的增長。在右上角，您可以看到我們在減少淨債務方面取得的進展。包括 8 月份的贖回在內，假設我們在 23 財年末擁有與第三季度末相同的流動性，那麼自 20 財年開始以來，我們的淨債務將減少 8.04 億美元。

In the middle on the bottom, you can see that net debt to net cap at the end of fiscal '23 is expected to be 57.8%, which is a significant improvement from where we were at the beginning of fiscal '20. We still have more work to do to achieve our goal of a mid-30% level, but we have made significant progress and are well on our way to getting there.

在底部中間，您可以看到 23 財年末的淨債務與淨上限的比率預計為 57.8%，這比 20 財年年初的情況有顯著改善。要實現 30% 中等水平的目標，我們還有更多工作要做，但我們已經取得了重大進展，並且正朝著實現這一目標的方向前進。

Given the return to a more normalized sales pace and the overall strength of the housing market today, we are encouraged that our year-over-year comparisons for the first quarter of fiscal '24 should show significant improvements. Our balance sheet has improved significantly over the last 5 years, and we expect to continue to make significant progress moving forward.

鑑於銷售速度回歸到更加正常化的狀態以及當今房地產市場的整體實力，我們對 24 財年第一季度的同比比較應該顯示出顯著的改善感到鼓舞。過去五年來，我們的資產負債表已顯著改善，我們預計未來將繼續取得重大進展。

Turning now to Slide 31. It shows the compounded annual growth rate of our book value per share from the end of '21 to the midpoint of our guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal '23. Our expected growth rate is 224%.

現在轉向幻燈片 31。它顯示了從 21 年底到 23 財年第四季度指導中點的每股賬面價值的複合年增長率。我們的預期增長率是224%。

Slide 32 shows our book value growth rate compared to our peers. Helped by the fact that we started at a low number, our growth rate is much higher than our peers. We think it's important to consider how rapidly our book value is increasing when evaluating an appropriate price-to-book ratio compared to our peers.

幻燈片 32 顯示了我們與同行相比的賬面價值增長率。由於我們起點較低，我們的增長率遠高於同行。我們認為，與同行相比，在評估適當的市淨率時，考慮我們的賬面價值增長速度有多快很重要。

Turning to Slide 33. Not only has our book value per share has been growing at an extremely strong rate. But on this slide, we show that compared to our peers, we had the second highest return on equity at 38% over the last 12 months.

轉向幻燈片 33。我們的每股賬面價值不僅以極其強勁的速度增長。但在這張幻燈片中，我們顯示，與同行相比，我們在過去 12 個月內的股本回報率為 38%，位居第二。

Turning to Slide 34, we show compared to our peers that we have 1 of the highest consolidated EBIT returns on investment at 30.4%, while our ROE was helped by our leverage our EBIT return on investment, a true measure of pure homebuilding performance without regard to leverage was the highest among our midsized peers. Over the last several years, we have consistently had one of the highest EBIT ROI among our peers. Eventually, investors will recognize our consistent superior returns on capital, reduced leverage and significantly improved balance sheet. As a result, our stock price multiples should increase.

轉向幻燈片34，我們顯示，與同行相比，我們的綜合EBIT 投資回報率為30.4%，是最高的之一，而我們的ROE 得益於我們的EBIT 投資回報率，這是純粹住宅建築業績的真正衡量標準，不考慮任何因素槓桿率在我們的中型同行中是最高的。在過去的幾年裡，我們一直是同行中息稅前利潤投資回報率最高的公司之一。最終，投資者將認識到我們一貫的卓越資本回報、降低的槓桿率和顯著改善的資產負債表。因此，我們的股價倍數應該會增加。

On Slide 35, we show our price to book multiple compared to our peers. While we currently trade above median, we still trade below 5 of our peers that have lower book value growth rates. Four of these peers also have lower returns on equity than us. Given our rapidly growing book value, we think it would be appropriate to consider a variety of metrics, including EBIT return on investment and our price earnings multiple when establishing a fair value for our stock. We believe when all our financial metrics are considered, our stock is a compelling value.

在幻燈片 35 上，我們顯示了與同行相比的預訂價格。雖然我們目前的交易價格高於中值，但我們的交易價格仍低於 5 個賬面價值增長率較低的同行。其中四家同行的股本回報率也低於我們。鑑於我們快速增長的賬面價值，我們認為在確定我們股票的公允價值時，考慮各種指標是適當的，包括息稅前利潤投資回報率和市盈率。我們相信，當考慮到我們所有的財務指標時，我們的股票具有令人信服的價值。

Turning to Slide 36. Here, you can see that when we compare our enterprise value to adjusted EBITDA, we have just about the lowest ratio despite our outperformance on a return basis.

轉向幻燈片 36。在這裡，您可以看到，當我們將企業價值與調整後的 EBITDA 進行比較時，儘管我們的回報率表現出色，但我們的比率幾乎是最低的。

And on Slide 37, we show the trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio for us and our peer group. Based on our price earnings multiple of 4.55x at yesterday's closing stock price of $100.38, we're trading at a 38% discount to the homebuilding industry average P/E ratio. We recognize that our stock may trade at a discount to the group because of our higher leverage. However, given our 38% return on equity, our industry-leading growth in book value, our top quartile EBIT return on investment combined with our rapidly improving balance sheet, we believe our stock continues to be the most undervalued in the entire universe of public homebuilders. We remain focused on further strengthening our balance sheet, including further reductions in our debt levels.

在幻燈片 37 上，我們展示了我們和同行群體過去 12 個月的市盈率。根據昨天收盤價 100.38 美元計算的市盈率 4.55 倍，我們的交易價格比住宅建築行業平均市盈率低 38%。我們認識到，由於我們的槓桿率較高，我們的股票交易價格可能會低於該集團。然而，考慮到我們38% 的股本回報率、行業領先的賬面價值增長、最高四分之一的息稅前利潤投資回報率以及快速改善的資產負債表，我們相信我們的股票仍然是整個公共領域中被低估的股票。住宅建築商。我們仍然專注於進一步加強我們的資產負債表，包括進一步降低我們的債務水平。

I will now turn it back to Ara for some brief closing remarks.

現在我將把它轉回 Ara 進行一些簡短的結束語。

Thanks, Brad. The market for new homes remains strong due to the positive demographics and employment trends, combined with the low supply of existing homes for sales. Given the rising mortgage rate environment, new homebuilders are in a unique position where we can buy down mortgage rates for our customers, something that existing home sellers cannot offer to buyers. Our recent pivot to having more QMIs available allows us to offer these below-market mortgage rates on more homes than we otherwise would have been able to do. And that gives us the confidence that our sales pace should remain fairly steady at these healthy levels.

謝謝，布拉德。由於積極的人口結構和就業趨勢，加上現有待售房屋供應量較低，新房市場依然強勁。鑑於抵押貸款利率不斷上升的環境，新的住宅建築商處於獨特的地位，我們可以為客戶降低抵押貸款利率，這是現有房屋賣家無法向買家提供的。我們最近轉向提供更多的 QMI，這使我們能夠為更多房屋提供低於市場的抵押貸款利率，這是我們原本無法做到的。這讓我們有信心我們的銷售速度應該保持相當穩定在這些健康的水平。

While the recent rise in mortgage rates have caused concerns for investors regarding sales going forward, our August contracts month-to-date are up 56% over August of last year. The sales pace has slowed somewhat in August compared to a blazing comparison for the third quarter but the year-over-year comparison is very strong, and customers seem to be adjusting their expectations to the current interest rates. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to finish this year with a strong fourth quarter.

雖然最近抵押貸款利率的上漲引起了投資者對未來銷售的擔憂，但我們的 8 月合約本月迄今比去年 8 月上漲了 56%。與第三季度的強勁對比相比，8 月份的銷售速度有所放緩，但同比對比非常強勁，客戶似乎正在根據當前利率調整預期。我樂觀地認為，我們將能夠以強勁的第四季度結束今年。

While we're not prepared to give detailed guidance for the first quarter of '24, we do expect to follow up with the first quarter that should show significant year-over-year improvements to last year's first quarter. We look forward to reporting our progress in these future periods. Assuming sales remained similar to the last few months, it should set us up nicely for a solid performance for the full year of '24. That concludes our formal comments, and we'll be happy to open it up for Q&A.

雖然我們不准備為 24 年第一季度提供詳細的指導，但我們確實預計第一季度的後續情況應該會比去年第一季度出現顯著的同比改善。我們期待報告我們在未來這些時期的進展。假設銷售額與過去幾個月保持相似，這將為我們 24 年全年的穩健業績奠定良好基礎。我們的正式評論到此結束，我們很樂意開放問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Alan Ratner with Zelman & Associates.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Zelman & Associates 的 Alan Ratner。

(inaudible), and nice job in the quarter. You kind of touched on it towards the end there, but I feel like there is so much attention on kind of the real-time activity. I was hoping just to first ask about kind of what you are seeing in August up to this point and 56% growth, very impressive. If I'm doing the math, it probably implies an absorption pace somewhere in the low 3s, which is obviously very, very healthy. A bit lower than you've done in the last few years in August, and I'm looking at your monthly cadence chart on Slide 40, which is very helpful. I'm curious, is there anything we need to consider as far as BFR sales that could be either a headwind or tailwind to the results in August and thinking about the quarter as a whole? And I guess, just more broadly on that, given the high percentage of communities you're raising prices in, if you were to see that sales pace dip, say, below 3 in September and October, would you maybe take your foot off the gas a little bit on incrementally raising price?

（聽不清），本季度工作做得很好。你在最後提到了這一點，但我覺得人們對實時活動有太多關注。我希望先問一下您在 8 月份到目前為止所看到的情況以及 56% 的增長，非常令人印象深刻。如果我計算一下，這可能意味著吸收速度在 3 秒以下，這顯然是非常非常健康的。比過去幾年八月份的表現要低一些，我正在查看幻燈片 40 上的每月步頻圖表，這非常有幫助。我很好奇，就 BFR 銷售而言，我們是否需要考慮任何可能對 8 月份業績產生不利或有利影響的因素，並考慮整個季度的情況？我想，更廣泛地說，考慮到您提價的社區比例很高，如果您看到銷售速度下降，例如 9 月和 10 月低於 3，您可能會停下來天然氣價格逐步提高？

I'll start with the first one. The answer is yes, definitely. If we saw sales slow down as a result of our home price increases. Yes, we definitely take our foot off the pedal and not slow as much. And of course, we've demonstrated in the past, we'll happily increase incentives if necessary, to keep individual communities on pace. Regarding BFRs, there's nothing extraordinary. I'd say, in general, there's still a lot of interest and demand and discussions going on for us to do more BFRs and we're very pleased with the results. The returns are solid, and we think it's going to be a core part of our earnings. Just like, by the way, Alan, I'll mention this to you specifically joint ventures have been for 20 years, a core part of our operations. And the profits are an important part of how we achieve some very good returns.

我將從第一個開始。答案是肯定的。如果我們看到銷售由於房價上漲而放緩。是的，我們確實把腳從踏板上拿開，而且速度沒有那麼慢。當然，我們過去已經證明，如有必要，我們很樂意增加激勵措施，以保持各個社區的發展步伐。關於 BFR，沒有什麼特別的。我想說的是，總的來說，仍然有很多人對我們進行更多的 BFR 感興趣、有很多需求和討論，我們對結果非常滿意。回報是可靠的，我們認為這將成為我們收入的核心部分。順便說一句，艾倫，我要向您特別提到的是，合資企業已經存在 20 年了，它是我們運營的核心部分。利潤是我們實現良好回報的重要組成部分。

Understood. I appreciate that on the JV side. The gross margin, just looking at your guidance for the full year, it implies a pretty wide range of potential outcomes in the fourth quarter, 100 basis point spread on the full year, (inaudible) get me if I'm plugging the numbers in here, fourth quarter, either being down sequentially as much as 100 basis points or up potentially a couple of hundred basis points. So I'm not looking for an exact number here, but can you talk just generally about the trend on margin in your backlog? Is it stable? Is it moving higher? And what is the price versus cost spread looking like today?

明白了。我很欣賞合資企業方面的這一點。毛利率，只要看看你們對全年的指導，它就意味著第四季度的潛在結果相當廣泛，全年利差為100 個基點，（聽不清）如果我把數字填進去的話，請告訴我第四季度，要么連續下降多達 100 個基點，要么可能上升幾百個基點。因此，我在這裡並不是要尋找確切的數字，但您能否大致談談您的積壓訂單中的保證金趨勢？穩定嗎？它正在走高嗎？今天的價格與成本價差是怎樣的？

I'd say, in general, it's feeling pretty good. We didn't talk a lot about costs, but we've made some great progress on a national purchasing blitz. And I'd say prices overall, putting lumber aside, have been trending slightly lower and certainly holding steadily right now. And that has been helpful.

我想說，總體來說，感覺還是不錯的。我們沒有過多談論成本，但我們在全國採購閃電戰方面取得了一些重大進展。我想說的是，除了木材之外，總體價格一直呈小幅下降趨勢，並且目前肯定保持穩定。這很有幫助。

The other comment I would make to your question about margins for the fourth quarter is as we transition to more QMIs and we saw a lot of QMIs in the same quarter that we have the deliveries, there's a little less visibility to what we've had in the past through our margins. But I would echo what Ara said that I would say the trends have continued to be similar to what we saw in the third quarter.

對於您關於第四季度利潤率的問題，我要提出的另一條評論是，隨著我們轉向更多的 QMI，我們在交付的同一季度看到了很多 QMI，對我們的情況的可見度有點低過去通過我們的邊緣。但我會同意 Ara 的說法，我會說趨勢仍然與我們在第三季度看到的相似。

The other thing I've mentioned, and we recognize that it's a big spread. But as you saw, there was a big spread in our actuals for the third quarter, we definitely outperformed what we thought. And part of that is it's very hard to project every single community in this environment. You never know which -- what the mix is going to be. Do our higher-margin communities run into a transformer problem, which happens all over the place, and you substitute it in another part of the country with maybe a lower margin or maybe a higher margin. It's just very difficult to be super precise in this environment plus the QMIs, as Brad mentioned. But in general, I'd say we feel very good about gross margins right at this moment.

我提到的另一件事，我們認識到這是一個很大的差距。但正如您所看到的，我們第三季度的實際情況存在很大差異，我們的表現絕對超出了我們的預期。部分原因是很難在這種環境中規劃每個社區。你永遠不知道混合後會是什麼。我們利潤率較高的社區是否遇到了變壓器問題，這種問題隨處可見，而您可以將其替換為利潤率較低或較高的國家其他地區。正如 Brad 提到的，在這種加上 QMI 的環境中要達到超級精確是非常困難的。但總的來說，我想說我們目前對毛利率感覺非常好。

Perfect. If I could just squeeze in 1 follow-up, Ara, just going back to the first question. You mentioned you wouldn't hesitate to adjust incentive levels if you felt like the sales pace had retreated below a certain level. Is there an absorption pace we should think about? Obviously, there's seasonality in it, but is there a level where if sales were to drop below a certain point, for example, where you would get potentially more aggressive on discounting?

完美的。如果我能擠出一個後續問題，Ara，回到第一個問題。您提到，如果您覺得銷售速度已回落到某個水平以下，您會毫不猶豫地調整激勵水平。我們是否應該考慮一個吸收速度？顯然，其中存在季節性，但是是否存在一個水平，例如，如果銷售額下降到某個點以下，您可能會更加積極地進行折扣？

I mean, generally, monthly sales pace with a 3 handle is what we shoot for an annualized pace of 36 to 40 homes would be a typical number. But we also, as we've discussed, are very focused on inventory turnover, so we also look at what is the pace of the underlying lot takedown pace. And we feel it's very important to get our sales pace to equal the lot takedown pace. In some cases, the lot takedown pace is only 2 a month. In other cases, it's 3 a month, 4 a month or 5 a month. So we really look by community and ideally and we're not there yet. We -- the day we take down a lot, we'd start construction, either because it was already sold and in backlog or we're beginning a new QMI based on the pace.

我的意思是，一般來說，我們的目標是 3 戶的月銷售速度，年化銷售速度為 36 至 40 套房屋將是一個典型數字。但正如我們所討論的，我們也非常關注庫存周轉率，因此我們也會關注基本批次拆除速度的速度。我們認為讓我們的銷售速度與批次拆除速度相等非常重要。在某些情況下，批次拆除速度僅為每月 2 個。在其他情況下，是每月 3 次、每月 4 次或每月 5 次。所以我們確實是按社區來看待的，理想情況下我們還沒有做到這一點。我們——在我們拆除大量建築的那一天，我們就會開始施工，要么因為它已經售出並處於積壓狀態，要么我們正在根據進度開始一個新的 QMI。

Yes. And just -- I'll make one comment, and that is I don't believe some analysts in the market in general, really recognizes our land light strategy. And it's not we hope to get to land light just as Ara described, trying to match up our takedowns to our sales absorption pace as well as our high inventory turnover, high return on invested capital. We are land light similar to not as good as NBR, but certainly similar to Dream finders, which some are really counting as a land light company. They get much higher multiples than we do. And I just don't think the market and analysts understand we're also land light.

是的。只是 - 我要發表一個評論，那就是我不相信市場上的一些分析師真正認可我們的土地照明戰略。我們並不希望像 Ara 所描述的那樣取得成功，試圖將我們的收購與我們的銷售吸收速度以及我們的高庫存周轉率、高投資資本回報率相匹配。我們是陸地燈，雖然不如 NBR，但肯定與夢想發現者相似，有些人確實將其視為一家陸地燈公司。他們的倍數比我們高得多。我只是認為市場和分析師並不理解我們也是陸地燈。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Louis (inaudible) with Housing Research Center.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自住房研究中心的路易斯（聽不清）。

Glad you pay down the $100 million of debt this quarter. Do you have any plans to continue to pay down debt over the next few quarters? And is there anything that limits how much (inaudible).

很高興您本季度還清了 1 億美元的債務。您是否有計劃在未來幾個季度繼續償還債務？有沒有什麼東西限制了多少（聽不清）。

I'm sorry, can you speak just a little more slowly, it's hard to understand.

抱歉，你能說慢一點嗎，很難聽懂。

Yes. I was just saying glad to see you paid down the $100 million of debt per quarter. Is there anything that limits how much you can pay down per quarter? And do you plan to pay any more over the next few quarters?

是的。我只是說很高興看到你每季度還清 1 億美元的債務。有什麼限制您每季度可以支付的金額嗎？您計劃在接下來的幾個季度支付更多費用嗎？

We don't have any specific limits on what we can pay down per quarter. So as I think we've demonstrated, we're very serious about improving our balance sheet and reducing our debt. We've been doing this fairly regularly. We expect if things hold steady, we can continue to do that in the future, but we're not giving any specific guidance. I mean we just paid down $100 million last quarter and $100 million we just paid off last week. So we're making great progress.

我們對每季度可以支付的金額沒有任何具體限制。因此，正如我認為我們已經證明的那樣，我們非常認真地改善我們的資產負債表和減少我們的債務。我們相當定期地這樣做。我們預計，如果情況保持穩定，我們可以在未來繼續這樣做，但我們沒有給出任何具體指導。我的意思是，我們上個季度剛剛還清了 1 億美元，上週我們剛剛還清了 1 億美元。所以我們正在取得巨大進展。

Thank you. That concludes today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the call back to Ara Hovnanian for closing remarks.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回阿拉·霍夫納尼安 (Ara Hovnanian)，讓其致閉幕詞。

Thank you very much. I know it's an interesting time with rates moving as they are in all of the different world events. Particularly with what's been going on with the Fed and concerns about rates. As I mentioned, customers seem to be adjusting, our offerings are being well received. Our sales are very good. Our margins are good. We feel very optimistic about the outlook going forward. And we'll look forward to giving you more good news in future quarters. Thanks so much.

非常感謝。我知道這是一個有趣的時刻，利率的變化就像所有不同的世界事件一樣。特別是美聯儲的情況和對利率的擔憂。正如我提到的，客戶似乎正在調整，我們的產品受到好評。我們的銷量非常好。我們的利潤率很好。我們對未來的前景感到非常樂觀。我們期待在未來幾個季度為您帶來更多好消息。非常感謝。

This concludes our conference call for today. Thank you all for participating, and have a nice day. All parties may now disconnect.

我們今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與，祝您有美好的一天。所有各方現在都可以斷開連接。