American Homes Rises on Better-Than-Expected Quarter

American Homes 4 Rent, the nation’s largest single-family home landlord, posted earnings that far outpaced Wall Street expectations. The Agoura Hills real estate investment trust reported adjusted funds from operations, a REIT metric, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 of $67.7 million (23 cents a share) on revenue of $228 million. That was compared to $46.2 million (18 cents) on $173 million in revenue for the same period a year ago. Analysts on average expected a quarterly loss of 4 cents a share on $224 million of revenue, according to Thomson Financial Network. Full-year adjusted FFO was $243 million (84 cents a share) on $879 million in revenue, compared to $149 million (56 cents a share) on $631 million in revenue for the prior year. Analysts expected a loss of 18 cents a share on $879.75 million of revenue. David Singelyn, American Homes chief executive, said the company’s portfolio grew by more than 24 percent over the year, mostly due to buying its competitor, Scottsdale, Ariz. American Residential Properties Inc. about a year ago. American Homes declared a dividend of 5 cents a common share for the current quarter. As of Dec. 31, the REIT owned more than 48,400 single-family homes in 22 states. American Homes (AMH) reported earnings late Thursday. Shares closed Friday up 27 cents, or1.2 percent, to $23.65 on the New York Stock Exchange.