<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toll Brothers Inc <TOL.N> said on Wednesday that it expected to report a 51 percent drop in quarterly homebuilding revenue, but said new orders had improved from the prior period, reflecting a seasonal upturn.</p><p>Preliminary results for the second quarter ended on April 30 showed homebuilding revenue of about $398.3 million and an order backlog of about $944.3 million.</p><p>Analysts on average were expecting second-quarter revenue of $392.4 million for the luxury homebuilder, according to Reuters Estimates.</p><p>Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Toll said its signed contracts jumped 119 percent from the first quarter. The company attributed the rise to seasonal factors and a particularly weak first quarter that made comparisons easier.</p><p>Toll's cancellation rate improved to 21.7 percent in the quarter from 37.1 percent in the first three months of the year and 24.9 percent a year earlier.</p><p>Toll said it continued to mothball some sites and decrease the number of communities it develops, and estimated second quarter pretax writedowns between $90 million and $160 million.</p><p>That was higher than expected, said UBS analyst David Goldberg, who reduced estimates for the year to a loss of $1.15 per share from $1 as a result.</p><p>"That said, we continue to believe Toll is well positioned, given its high quality land and liquidity," Goldberg said in a research note.</p><p>Toll shares were up 2.5 percent at $20 in light trading before the market opened.</p><p>The company plans to release full second-quarter results on June 3.</p><p>(Reporting by Nick Zieminski and Anurag Kotoky; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=50780713&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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