Approximately $1.75 billion of debt securities affected
New York, February 17, 2021 -- Moody's Investors Service changed the outlook for KB Home to positive
from stable. At the same time, Moody's affirmed the
company's Ba3 Corporate Family Rating, Ba3-PD Probability
of Default Rating, and Ba3 ratings on its senior unsecured notes.
The company's SGL-2 Speculative Grade Liquidity rating is
maintained.
"The positive outlook reflects Moody's expectation that KB
Home will see robust revenue expansion toward $5.5 billion
in FY 2021 through its strong order trends, significant backlog
position of nearly $3 billion at November 2020, and the visibility
provided by the company's build-to-order business
model," says Natalia Gluschuk, Moody's Vice President
-- Senior Analyst. Moody's also expects KB Home to continue
deleveraging and improving gross margin, and its interest coverage
to rise above 5.0x by year end. Further, Moody's
expects the company to continue to maintain a conservative financial strategy
with a focus on balance sheet strength and good liquidity, and to
successfully address its upcoming debt maturities over the next 18 months.
Strong tailwinds in the homebuilding sector over the next 12 to 18 months
will support KB Home's growth and credit metric strengthening.
The following rating actions were taken:
Outlook Actions:
..Issuer: KB Home
....Outlook, Changed To Positive From
Stable
Affirmations:
..Issuer: KB Home
.... Probability of Default Rating,
Affirmed Ba3-PD
.... Corporate Family Rating, Affirmed
Ba3
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture,
Affirmed Ba3 (LGD4)
RATINGS RATIONALE
KB Home's Ba3 Corporate Family Rating is supported by: 1) a conservative
financial policy focused on improving the balance sheet and Moody's
expectation for deleveraging through earnings retention and debt reduction;
2) the company's large scale and position as one of the ten largest
homebuilders in the US by revenue and homes closed; 3) approximately
60% of product mix represented by the first-time homebuyer
category based on home closings and Moody's expectation that the
company will benefit from the demand of the millennial population;
and 4) the company's built-to-order strategy, which
provides visibility into future revenue and reduces inventory risk.
At the same time, the company's credit profile is constrained by:
1) KB Home's revenue and home closings concentration in California;
2) shareholder friendly activities, including ongoing dividends
and potential share repurchases; 3) KB Home's supply of inactive
land, which tends to generate below company average gross margins,
although it now represents a low single digit percent of total inventory;
and 4) cyclicality of the homebuilding sector and exposure to significant
volatility in results.
KB Home's SGL-2 Speculative Grade Liquidity Rating reflects
Moody's expectation that the company will maintain good liquidity,
supported by its $681 million cash position at November 30,
2020, solid cash flow from operations, substantial availability
under its $800 million unsecured revolving credit facility expiring
in October 2023, and good cushion under financial covenants.
Liquidity is somewhat constrained by the upcoming debt maturities over
the next 18 months.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
The ratings could be upgraded if KB Home's homebuilding debt to
book capitalization declines below 40%, homebuilding EBIT
coverage of interest increases above 5.0x, and gross margin
approaches 20%. Maintenance of good liquidity and conservative
financial policies, along with favorable homebuilding industry conditions
would also be important considerations for an upgrade.
The ratings could be downgraded if the company's homebuilding debt to
book capitalization trends toward 50%, homebuilding EBIT
coverage of interest is sustained below 4.0x, gross margin
declines to less than 18%, or liquidity profile deteriorates.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Homebuilding And Property
Development Industry published in January 2018 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1108031.
Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of this methodology.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, KB Home is one of the country's largest
homebuilders, with a presence in 45 markets in eight states and
four geographic regions. The company builds attached and detached
single-family residential homes, townhomes and condominiums
for first-time, first move-up, second move-up
and active adult homebuyers. In FY 2020 ended November 30,
KB Home generated approximately $4.2 billion in homebuilding
revenue and $300 million in consolidated net income.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody's key rating assumptions and
sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and
Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody's
Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found at: https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_79004.
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings
issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings
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For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
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Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Moody's general principles for assessing environmental, social
and governance (ESG) risks in our credit analysis can be found at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1243406.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU and is endorsed
by Moody's Deutschland GmbH, An der Welle 5, Frankfurt
am Main 60322, Germany, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that issued the credit rating is available on www.moodys.com.
The Global Scale Credit Rating on this Credit Rating Announcement was
issued by one of Moody's affiliates outside the UK and is endorsed
by Moody's Investors Service Limited, One Canada Square,
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Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
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Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Natalia Gluschuk
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Dean Diaz
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653