James M. DeCosmo
Analyst · D.A
Thank you, Chris. And I'd also like to welcome everybody who's joining us on the call this morning. While we continue to see solid momentum in real estate in the first quarter, oil and gas production continue to be impacted by adverse weather, as well as declining royalty income. However, with housing starts 500,000 below the long-term annual average of 1.5 million, we believe there's still several innings of recovery in front of us. Relative to oil and gas, drilling completion operations has picked up with more moderate weather conditions. And as a result, we expect to see an increase in working interest production throughout the year. This morning, we'll review the first quarter 2014 results and provide an update on our Growing FORward initiatives and, in particular, our updated 2014 capital plan. I'll begin with our real estate segment results. In the first quarter, real estate segment earnings were $23.6 million, that's up over [ph] 21% compared with the first quarter of last year. As the chart illustrates, the main driver was higher undeveloped land and lot sales. We sold over 9,300 acres of undeveloped land for over $2,100 an acre, with those lands primarily located in East Texas. These sales represent a meaningful step toward monetizing $100 million of non-core assets in connection with our Growing FORward strategic initiatives. We sold 974 lots in the first quarter of this year, and that's up 118% compared with the first quarter of last year. In addition, we sold 831 acres of residential tracts. Of these sales, 360 lots and 831 acres of residential tract were sold in bulk which closed out 2 non-core communities near Atlanta. Excluding these bulk sales, average lot prices and gross profit per lot was 7% higher compared with the first quarter of last year. We continue to capitalize on the housing recovery by delivering lots from our solid pipeline of projects in growing markets with tight lot inventories. Now let's take a little bit closer look at sales trends. Barring any major shocks to housing, we anticipate lot sales in 2014 to exceed 2,200 lots, that's up about 17% over 2013 and that's also up from the 2,100 we referenced on the February earnings call. Including the bulk sales in Q1, we expect lot margins to be comparable to 2013. Given the current level of housing demand, we continue to operate with the majority of all lots in development under contract. Relative to the location of sales, Texas accounts for the majority of our sales, and as you'd expect, given the most of our investment projects are in Texas, one of the strongest state economies in the nation. Even though Texas is doing well, we're seeing other markets and investments gaining momentum. Aside from the bulk sales, 33 lots were sold in Atlanta, plus another 57 lots in Denver and Nashville. And last, gross profit from lot sales is up year-over-year and is holding up well across all age classes of acquisitions. One of the major competitive advantages we have today is that we came out of the housing recession with a strong portfolio of assets, balance sheet liquidity and experienced team that's certainly capable of developing lots to meet demand in these inventory constrained markets. Over the trailing 24 months, we've also been successful and I would add yet disciplined in acquiring tracts, replacing lots or units sold in some cases, even extending our position in certain submarkets. Since the second quarter of 2012, we've acquired 9 projects in 5 markets, which we anticipate will produce about 2,000 lots, generating north of a 20% return, while maintaining close to a 40% profit margin. Relative to capitalized development expense, the majority of all investments within our selling communities, with the major -- with the majority in Texas or by [ph] Colorado, which is primarily development expense associated with previous sales at our Pinery West project located in submarket at Denver. The following slides are intended to provide you with additional visibility in the recent capital that we invested in real estate acquisitions and extensions. Lantana is one of our most successful communities held in a partnership, with lot sales among our top 5 selling communities. Lantana is certainly -- is centrally located between Dallas and Fort Worth, it's just 15 miles north of the DFW National Airport. It's also less than 2 miles away from over 1 million square feet of retail, entertainment and restaurants. The master-plan community has been awarded community of the year in Dallas, Fort Worth on a number of occasions and has been 1 of the top selling communities in DFW over the last 5 years. In the first quarter, we had an opportunity to purchase the remaining venture interest from our partner for approximately $8.2 million. We'll now have a 100% interest in 285 lots under development and about 517 lots to be developed, plus all the reimbursements from 2 water supply districts. The investment has a projected IRR in excess of 20% and doesn't materially change the gross profit per lot. Let's look at the progress of another recent acquisition, which is Morgan Farms in Nashville. Late in 2012, we acquired a 208-acre site in Brentwood, which is a prime submarket, south of Nashville, for $7 million, expected to yield about 173 lots. This site is 10 miles from the Brentwood Cool Springs business center, which has 13 million square feet of office and it's 1 of the best school districts in the state. This is an example of an acquisition brought to us by a local builder, who have had taken the property through entitlement and was looking for the right developer to take over the project. Forestar's competitive advantage of being a developer with a balance sheet, available liquidity and the reputation for best-of-class planning and execution of development projects was the deciding factor. Morgan Farms will include 3 price points. And the group of local and regional builders include Drees Homes, Turnberry Homes and 3 custom builders. As of today, 75% of all the lots are under contract with multi-year takedown schedules. Our pro forma cash flows indicate breakeven at about 45% of the project life, with gross lot margins expected to be similar to our 2013 average of 40%. Now let's turn to multifamily. In addition to our single-family communities, we got 4 multi-family projects currently under construction, with 1 project in Littleton, a submarket in Denver, about to break ground. In total, about 1,620 units. Eleven, which is our 257-unit community here in Downtown Austin, is over 98% complete and about 65% leased. Eleven is currently being marketed for sale, and we expect it to close late in the second quarter or early in the third. The balance of our multi-family development projects are progressing well. And as the chart illustrates, we expect these investments to yield a 2- to 3-cash multiple in 36 to 48 months following the start of construction. We acquired 2 new sites in Austin for projects which are expected to be in ventures and start construction in 2015. In the next 2 slides, our review of multi-family development project in Nashville and the 2 recent site acquisitions. We broke ground at the end of 2013 at our multi-family project located in Nashville, which we call Acklen, which is 30% owned by Forestar in a venture with MassMutual. We sourced and purchased this 3-point acre site during the third quarter of 2012 for $11 million. It's an excellent location, adjacent to the Vanderbilt University campus and several hospital campuses. The surrounding employment base is in excess of 46,000 employees. Acklen is just 3 miles from downtown Nashville and 10 minutes from the airport. The project will be a 300-unit Class A multi-family project with a best-of-class amenity package. Forestar's equity in the project is $6 million, with pro forma cash to Forestar of $14 million, a 2.5 cash multiple. This should be another successful project. It's in a great location. And with the balance of supply coming online over the next few years, it should keep the submarket fully occupied around 94% through the time of completion. Next, looking at 2 sites we've acquired. We recently purchased and closed 2 sites for future multi-family projects both located here in Austin. Pressler Park is located in Austin central business district, a short walk from the capital and the University of Texas. As you can see, the site also fronts Austin Central Parking System elevation that provides premier views of Lady Bird Lake, plus easy access to running, trails, parks and boating, just a few of the amenities. The second site is currently called Westlake, and it's a first-ring [ph] suburban 20-acre project located in West Austin with direct access to Highway 360, a major transportation quarter here in Austin. For comparison purposes, this site is much closer to Downtown Austin than our successful Promesa project that's sold in the first quarter of last year. Other key factors include being a part of the AIMS school district, where all 9 schools are rated exemplary. That's the highest possible designation. When this project is completed, it'll be 1 of 3 multi-family locations in the submarket. We'll keep you posted on the status of these projects as we make progress. Going forward, consistent with our initiatives, we'll continue to capitalize on the housing recovery by growing sales across the board, lots, residential and commercial tract. And we'll remain disciplined as we evaluate future investments in real estate, both development, as well as acquisition and extensions. Let's shift gears to other natural resources. First quarter 2014 of the natural resources segment losses were approximately $0.5 million compared with segment earnings of $1.3 million in the first quarter of last year. During the first quarter, we sold over 57,000 tons of fiber, that's down from 191,000 tons in the first quarter of last year. For the year, we anticipate fiber sales to be approximately 350,000 tons. Now let's turn to oil and gas. As I've mentioned, the first quarter 2014 results continued to be adversely impacted by unseasonable weather conditions. As expected, first quarter Oil and Gas segment earnings were $0.8 million, down over $4 million compared with the first quarter of last year. Q1 production and revenues from working interest was up 27% and $3.4 million, respectively, yet offset by exploration, production and DD&A expenses, that were up $4.7 million. And last, royalty income was down $1.3 million, primarily due to volume. The table at the bottom right shows the core end status of our working interest wells. During the first quarter, our average daily production was over 1,900 barrels a day, up about 27% over the first quarter of last year. Due to cold conditions, only 3 Bakken/Three Forks producers were added during the first quarter. However, 3 wells for drilling and approximately 18 wells were waiting on completion at the end of March. As conditions improve, we're seeing a pickup in funding request and completion wells. With the sale of a smaller non-core operating area associated with Credo acquisition and a step-up in production, we expect the second quarter segment earnings to be in the $5 million to $7 million range. Below segment earnings is the EBITDAX reconciliation. That's a non-GAAP measure, but we provide a reconciliation of segment earnings in the Appendix of the presentation. First quarter 2014 EBITDAX of $9.8 million was down only $0.4 million over the first quarter of last year. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Flavious Smith, who'll provide you with an update and some additional insights into our oil and gas operations.