Forestar Group Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to four stars first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. I will now turn the call over to Katie Smith, Director of Finance and Investor Relations for four star.

Thank you, John, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the call to discuss Four Star's first quarter results. Thank you for joining us. Before we get started, today's call includes forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Four Star believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Four Star on the date of the conference call, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. Additional information about factors that could lead to material changes and performance is contained in Four Star's annual report on Form 10-K. Our earnings release is on our website at investor.fourstar.com, and we plan to file our 10-Q tomorrow. After this call, we will post an updated investor presentation to our investor relations site under events and presentations for your reference. Now, I will turn the call over to Dan Bartok, our CEO.

Thank you, Katie. Good afternoon, everyone. As always, we appreciate your interest in Four Star and taking the time to discuss our first quarter results. In addition to Katie, I am pleased to be joined on the call today by Jim Allen, our Chief Financial Officer. and Mark Walker, our Chief Operating Officer. Mortgage rates rose at a record pace during 2022. As a result, housing affordability has been severely impacted. New home sales fell 15% in November from a year ago, and December housing starts were down 25% from a year ago. Despite those headwinds resulting in a revenue decline of nearly 50%, Our gross profit margin increased 390 basis points to 21.9 percent, and our pre-tax profit margin was 12.9 percent. The real story here is the transformation that Four Star has undergone over the past five years. We have become the largest pure-play residential lot manufacturing company in the United States. We have built a platform and assembled a team that is flexible and focused. We have further strengthened our balance sheet and look to be opportunistic in ways that will continue to build shareholder value. We have a strategic relationship with DR Horton, America's largest builder, and we have positioned ourselves to expand our customer base as we consolidate market share. The housing market is going through a period of transition. We are disciplined and have been proactively reducing land acquisition over the past 18 months. We've been staging development activity at our projects to be prepared for when the demand for residential lots increases. Our flexibility enables us to quickly adjust to meet the needs of our customers. We continue to strive to maximize returns while we plan and prepare to return to periods of rapid growth. Having a growth plan is one thing, but we have the capital structure, the operational flexibility, a strong customer relationship, and most importantly, the team to execute that plan. Four Star is better positioned than ever to serve current and new customers and consolidate market share. Jim will now discuss our first quarter financial results in more detail.