News Recap: Toll Brothers Inc (NYSE:TOL), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)

Toll Brothers Inc(NYSE:TOL) has posted a higher quarterly profit after a sharp rise in new orders, indicating a recovery in the U.S. housing market.

Prices for single-family homes are rising and after several years, economists expect home construction to contribute to U.S. economic growth.

Toll, the largest luxury homebuilder in the United States, targets wealthy customers with squeaky clean credit records. The company’s average selling prices rose to $582,000 in the  last quarter from $565,000 in the year-ago period.

Toll had signed contracts for 1098 units, in the fourth quarter ended October, up 70 percent, while backlog rose 54 percent.

Net income in the quarter was $411.4 million, or $2.35 per share, much higher than last year’s $15.0 million, or 9 cents per share.

However, this year’s fourth quarter profit included a tax benefit of $350.7 million. Revenue increased 48 percent to $632.8 million.

Shares of TOL are up 1% to $32.72, off session high of $34.

Meanwhile there is good news for the beleaguered Japanese company Sharp Corp. QUALCOMM, Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM) will become a shareholder of the company with an investment of up to 9.9 billion yen ($120 million) that will fund joint development of LCD screens for mobile devices.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer has been reeling under losses, and Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor even reduced its credit rating to junk status.

There has been talk about another technology company like Intel becoming a shareholder, although no such deal has been signed as yet.

Sharp has said that it will work with Qualcomm's Pixtronix Inc. unit to develop small displays based on Sharp's "IGZO" display technology. High color resolution and low power consumption are some of the features.

Qualcomm's investment will be done in two stages. However, the cash is not enough to stabilize Sharp’s floundering finances.