KB Home (NYSE: KBH) reported second-quarter 2013 results before markets opened this morning. The home builder reported a quarterly diluted earnings per share (EPS) loss of $0.04 on revenues of $524.4 million. In the same period a year ago, KB Home reported an EPS loss of $0.31 on revenue of $302.9 million. Second-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for an EPS loss of $0.07 and $450.8 million in revenue.

The company offered no guidance, but the consensus estimates for the third quarter call for EPS of $0.14 on revenues of $594.96 million. For the full year, the EPS estimate is $0.26 on revenues of $2.17 billion.

KB Home said that it delivered 1,797 homes in the second quarter and that the average selling price increased by $57,400 to $290,400, the second-highest selling price the company has had since 2006. The increase was largest in the company’s Southwest region.

The company’s CEO said:

With the limited supply of homes available for sale and robust demand in many of our served markets, we have deliberately emphasized price and value creation over sales pace to effectively optimize our land assets. Reflecting these strategic priorities, our overall net order unit growth moderated, while our net order value increased significantly from a year ago.

Gross profit margins came in a 15.1%, slightly lower than the year-ago margin of 15.8% due to a charge for flooding in a Florida community. Housing backlog is up 19% on a dollar basis going into the third quarter of 2013 and up 6% on a number of homes basis. New net orders are up 6%.

Sequentially, gross margins, backlog and new orders are up, but not as much as some very strong gains in the previous quarter.

Shares are up 2.0% in premarket trading this morning, at $20.30 in a 52-week range of $7.19 to $25.14. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $20.60 before today’s results were announced.

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