Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ara Hovnanian: 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 QMI, as Brad mentioned. But in general, I’d say we feel very good about gross margins right at this moment.

Alan Ratner: Perfect. If I could just squeeze in one 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?

Ara Hovnanian: I mean, generally, a monthly sales pace with a three 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 two a month. In other cases, it’s three a month, four a month or five a month. So, we really look by community, and ideally 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.

Unidentified Company Representative: 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 NVR, but certainly similar to Dream Finders, which some are really touting 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.

Alan Ratner: Appreciate it, guys. Thanks a lot.

Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from [Luis Aliva] (ph) with Housing Research Center. Luis, your line is open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hi. I’m glad to see you paid 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 you can pay down for quarter?

Ara Hovnanian: I’m sorry, can you speak just a little more slowly, it’s hard to understand.

Unidentified Analyst: 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 for quarter? And do you plan to pay any more over the next few quarters?