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St. Joe (JOE) Gains 5% on Q3 Earnings Beat, Costs Decline

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Shares of The St. Joe Company (JOE - Free Report) have gained about 5.3% following the release of third-quarter 2018 resultson Oct 31. Net income per share of 9 cents was reported, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 5 cents. Notably, the figure compares favorably with 8 cents reported in the year-ago quarter.  

Total revenues for the quarter came in at $23.7 million compared with $33.9 million recorded a year ago. This decline was attributed to lower real-estate revenues and resorts and leisure business revenues.

However, the quarter witnessed a slight rise in leasing revenues.

The company’s total expenses for the quarter declined 25% from the prior-year quarter to $21.8 million.

Behind the Headline Numbers

In the reported quarter, real-estate revenues came in at $6.2 million, down from $10.7 million a year ago. Timber revenues were $1.8 million, below $2 million generated in the prior-year quarter.

Further, leasing revenues came in at $3.1 million, up from the year-ago figure of $3 million. St. Joe owned around 808,000 square feet of rentable commercial space, which was 89% leased as of Sep 30, 2018.

Nevertheless, resorts and leisure revenues came in at $12.6 million in the quarter, down from $18.2 million posted in the year-earlier quarter.

Liquidity

St. Joe exited the third quarter  with cash, cash equivalents and investments of $249.2 million, down from $303.4 million as of Dec 31, 2017.

Conclusion

St. Joe’s strategy to expand its resorts and leisure businesses augurs well for long-term growth. Such efforts to achieve an optimal portfolio mix will likely help the company bolster revenues and provide a more stable source of earnings. Further, its continued efforts to enhance leasing portfolio enabled it to record encouraging growth in the leasing segment.

Nonetheless, inconsistent revenue performance in a number of segments leads to volatility in the top line. Moreover, regional business concentration remains a concern.

St. Joe Company (The) Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

St. Joe currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

We now look forward to the earnings releases of BBX Capital Corporation , The Howard Hughes Corporation and Marcus & Millichap, Inc. (MMI - Free Report) . BBX Capital is set to release its quarterly figures on Nov 6 while Howard Hughes is slated to report earnings on Nov 5. Marcus & Millichap will be reporting numbers on Nov 7.

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