KB Home (KBH) reported its first quarter earnings on Monday, March 24. The homebuilder’s shares fell more than 7% following the company reporting worse-than-expected revenue and earnings for the quarter.

KB Home reported quarterly revenue of $1.39 billion. This was down over 5% from revenue of $1.47 billion during the same quarter last year and below analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion in revenue.

“Although we missed our sales goals for the first quarter, we are encouraged by the significant improvement in weekly sales and normalizing absorption pace over the last five weeks,” said KB Home CEO, Jeffrey Mezger. “While our sales trends have improved, we are reducing our revenue guidance for fiscal 2025 primarily to reflect the lower level of net orders we generated in the first quarter. I am confident that our experienced team will effectively navigate the variability in market conditions and execute on our objectives for this year, while continuing to deliver high levels of customer satisfaction.”

For the quarter, KB reported net income of $109.6 million or $1.49 per adjusted share. This was a decrease in net income of $138.7 million or $1.76 per adjusted share in the same quarter last year.

KB reported its homebuilding operating income totaled $127.3 million for the quarter, down from $157.7 million one year ago. The company’s financial services segment revenue dropped to $7.5 million, a 35% decrease from $11.6 million in the same quarter last year. KB delivered 2,770 homes in the quarter, a decline from 3,037 delivered this time last year. The company reported the average selling price per home rose 4% to reach $500,700, an increase from $480,100 the prior year. KB lowered its full-year fiscal 2025 guidance and now expects revenue between $6.60 billion to $7.00 billion as compared to previous guidance of $7.00 billion to $7.50 billion.

KB Home (KBH) shares ended the week at $57.73, down 4% for the week.

McCormick Announces Earnings

McCormick & Co. Inc. (MKC) announced its first quarter results on Tuesday, March 25. The company reported sales that met revenue estimates but fell short on earnings, causing shares to decrease by about 3% following the release.

The company reported net sales of $1.61 billion for the first quarter. This was up slightly from $1.60 billion during the same quarter last year and in line with analysts' estimates.

“We are pleased to start the year with solid first quarter results that are in line with our expectations, as we are managing a dynamic environment,” said McCormick & Co. Inc. CEO, Brendan M. Foley. “Our continued volume growth underscores that we have the right plans to capitalize on secular trends that remain in our favor and sustain this differentiated performance and drive long-term growth. In addition, we continue to be well positioned with our cost savings initiatives to fuel investments and generate operating margin expansion.”

For the quarter, the company reported net income of $162.3 million or $0.60 per diluted share. This is down from net income of $166.0 million or $0.62 per diluted share last year at this time.

The Hunt Valley, Maryland-based spice company reported that sales in its Consumer segment were relatively unchanged from the prior year. Consumer segment sales in the Americas region decreased 0.4% in the quarter. Sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region decreased by 0.2%, which reflected pricing actions to offset rising commodity costs. Consumer segment sales in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 0.4%. The company’s Flavor Solutions segment saw marginal year-over-year growth with a 0.8% increase in sales, which was driven by a 12.7% increase in the Asia-Pacific region. For full-year fiscal 2025, the company expects sales to remain flat or increase by up to 2% and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $3.03 to $3.08.

McCormick & Co. Inc. (MKC) shares ended the week at $81.46, up 2% for the week.

Chewy Releases Earnings

Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) released its fourth quarter and full-year earnings report on Wednesday, March 26. The online retailer specializing in pet products reported an increase in sales and earnings, leading to an almost 6% increase in its stock price after the release of the report.

The company reported net sales of $3.25 billion for the quarter. This was up 15% from $2.83 billion in the same quarter last year and exceeded analysts’ expectations of $3.2 billion. For the full year, revenue came in at $11.86 billion, up 6% from $11.15 billion in the previous fiscal year.

“Topline growth and profitability exceeded the high-end of our guidance ranges for both the fourth quarter and full year 2024,” said Chewy CEO, Sumit Singh. “Our performance was underpinned by strong active customer growth, and compelling Autoship customer loyalty. As we embark on 2025, the momentum in the business has remained strong and we remain committed to executing Chewy’s strategic priorities as we continue to drive innovation across the pet category.” 

The company reported net income of $22.79 million this quarter or $0.05 per adjusted share. This decreased from $31.89 million or $0.07 per adjusted share at the same time last year. For the full year, the company reported net income of $392.74 million, an improvement from net income of $39.58 million reported last year.

Chewy reported 20.5 million active customers in the quarter, up 2% compared to this time last year. Chewy’s net sales per active customer reached $578, a 4% increase for the quarter. Chewy’s revenue from its Autoship subscription program, which allows customers to automatically reorder and have products delivered, increased by 21% to $2.62 billion in sales for the quarter. For fiscal 2025, Chewy expects an increase in net sales ranging between $12.3 billion and $12.45 billion.

Chewy, Inc. (CHWY) shares ended the week at $32.17, down 7% for the week.

The Dow started the week of 3/24 at 42,180 and closed at 41,584 on 3/28. The S&P 500 started the week at 5,718 and closed at 5,581. The NASDAQ opened the week at 18,046 and closed at 17,323.

Treasury yields rose at the beginning of the week as investors assessed the latest economic conditions. Yields declined at the end of the week as the latest consumer spending data and employment reports sent mixed signals on the economy.

On Tuesday, the Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index for March declined 7.2 points to 92.9. This was a sharp drop off from 100.1 in January and below economists’ expected reading of 93.5. The index for future expectations also declined to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years.

“Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month in March, falling below the relatively narrow range that had prevailed since 2022,” said Senior Economist at the Conference Board, Stephanie Guichard. “Meanwhile, consumers’ optimism about future income — which had held up quite strongly in the past few months — largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers’ assessments of their personal situations.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of March 24 at 4.26% and traded as high as 4.40% on Thursday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.59% and traded as high as 4.76% on Thursday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment decreased by 1,000 to 224,000 for the week ending March 22. The report came just below the 225,000 claims that analysts expected. Continuing claims decreased by 25,000 to 1.86 million.

“We have been a little bit frozen for a while; you have seen those headline (jobs) numbers, and frozen is a kind of stability,” said Economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, Allison Shrivastava. “But the longer that goes on, the more likely it is that we will have impacts…like frostbite.”

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of March 24 at 4.24% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.63%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, March 27. The survey showed that the 30-year mortgage rate declined slightly compared to the previous week.

This week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.65%, a slight decrease from last week’s average of 6.67%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.79%.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 5.89% this week, up from last week’s average of 5.83%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.11%.

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked down by two basis points this week,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “Recent mortgage rate stability continues to benefit potential buyers this spring, as reflected in the uptick in purchase applications.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.41% as of 3/17. The one-year CD averaged 1.78%.

Editor’s Note: The publicly available financial information is offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends. This article is not an endorsement of any company, product or service.