Leading home builder says the Iran war is already hurting housing market

By Steve Goldstein

KB Home lowers annual guidance on deliveries and revenue

KB Home lowered its guidance for the fiscal year.

KB Home shares were under pressure on Wednesday after the company said it's already seeing prospective buyers deterred by the war in Iran as the Los Angeles home builder cut its full-year guidance.

KB Home (KBH) shares fell 4% in opening trade to drag year-to-date performance to a 10% decline.

The builder expects between 10,000 and 11,500 home deliveries on the year - down 1,000 from its previous guidance - as it lowered housing-revenue guidance by about $450 million. The lowered guidance reflects both slower-than-expected order growth during the Feb. 28-ending first quarter, along with the reduced activity since the Iran war began.

"There's a lot of noise out there," said CEO Robert McGibney, according to a transcript of the analyst call from FactSet. "We saw solid momentum through January and February, but the last couple of weeks have been a little softer than we would like to see. We just don't have a lot of visibility right now into how long this conflict may go on and how it's going to impact consumer psyche."

KB Home said that, by the second half of the fiscal year, 70% of its homes will be built to order, as opposed to making houses speculatively before a buyer is identified. McGibney described the shift as a reset to its core operating model that reduces the need for speculative inventory, lowers exposure to price swings and makes capital deployment more disciplined.

KB Home's fiscal first-quarter earnings per share of 52 cents lagged behind FactSet-compiled analyst EPS estimates by 3 cents, as revenue of $1.08 billion just missed expectations of $1.09 billion.

-Steve Goldstein

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03-25-26 0944ET