KB Home Reports Surprise Quarterly Profit as Sales Jump

KB Home, the Los Angeles-based homebuilder that targets first-time buyers, surged the most in almost four years after the company reported an unexpected quarterly profit.

Net income for the three months through August was $3.3 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with a loss of $9.6 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier, the company said today in a statement. The average of 17 estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a loss of 15 cents a share.