Homebuilder not for sale

WCI Communities is attracting all kinds of positive attention from investors for its most recent quarterly earnings report, so it's no surprise there's talk of the company becoming an acquisition target.

The Bonita Springs-based company recently reported strong revenues and profits as Florida's homebuilding recovery continues. WCI (symbol: WCIC; recent price: $25.60) reported net income of $9.8 million on revenues of $150.7 million in the second quarter ending June 30. That compares with net income of $4.3 million on revenues of $93 million in the same quarter in 2014.

Furthermore, WCI says the average selling price per new home it delivered in the second quarter was $476,000, up 11.2% compared with the same quarter one year ago. The company delivered 243 new homes in the second quarter, a 70% increase over the same quarter in 2014.

In a conference call with investors to discuss the results, analyst Alan Ratner from Zelman & Associates asked WCI President and CEO Keith Bass if there are any plans to sell the company given the increased mergers-and-acquisitions activity.

The homebuilding sector has seen a noticeable increase in buyout activity over the last year. Most notably in June, Standard Pacific agreed to acquire Ryland Homes to create one of the nation's largest publicly traded homebuilding companies.

“I don't have any plans on selling the company,” Bass says in a transcript of the call posted on SeekingAlpha.com “We certainly are out there in the M&A front with regard to the A, not too much the other side of it,” he quipped.

Bass says WCI has plenty of opportunities to grow its presence in Florida and perhaps beyond. “We've been pretty honest about the fact that we've got the potential to export what we do to other marketplaces, but right now we're continuing to grow the business in Florida,” he says.