( MENAFN - GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized stockholder rights law firm, is investigating potential claims against Sezzle Inc. (“Sezzle” or the“Company”) (NASDAQ: SEZL) on behalf of Sezzle stockholders. Our investigation concerns whether Sezzle has violated the federal securities laws and/or engaged in other unlawful business practices. Click here to participate in the action. On December 18, 2024, Hindenburg Research published a report alleging, among other things, that:“Sezzle seems to be boosting its near-term subscription numbers with sketchy enrollment practices. The company has faced numerous customer complaints for enrolling users into recurring monthly subscriptions without their awareness, according to user complaints and the company's own FAQ.” Following this report, the price of the Company's stock dropped. If you purchased or otherwise acquired Sezzle shares and suffered a loss, are a long-term stockholder, have information, would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Brandon Walker or Marion Passmore by email at ... , by telephone at (212) 355-4648, or by filling out this contact form . There is no cost or obligation to you. About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.: Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit . Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact Information: Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. Brandon Walker, Esq. Marion Passmore, Esq. (212) 355-4648 ... MENAFN23122024004107003653ID1109025587 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.If you have room in your income portfolio for a new addition or two, then check out the ASX dividend shares listed below. They have recently been named as buys by brokers and tipped to provide good . Here's what you need to know: The first ASX dividend share for income investors to consider buying is Cedar Woods. It is one of Australia's leading property companies with a portfolio that is diversified by geography, price point, and product type. The team at Morgans is positive on the company. After being pleased with Cedar Woods' performance in FY 2024, the broker believes there's more to come this financial year. This is thanks to the positive operating conditions the company is experiencing in key markets. It said: CWP announced FY24 NPAT of $40.5m, up 28% (vs pcp) and above both the guidance range of $36m – $39m and our prior forecast of $37.8m. The key contributor was the sale of the William Land Shopping Centre, with lot revenue and gross profit broadly stable. Looking forward, the signs are positive, with guidance for +10% NPAT growth in FY25, supported by favorable operating conditions in most key states. In respect to income, Morgans is forecasting dividends per share of 27 cents in FY 2025 and then 31.7 cents in FY 2026. Based on its current share price of $5.51, this equates to 4.9% and 5.8% dividend yields, respectively. The broker currently has an add rating and $6.50 price target on its shares. ( ) Over at Goldman Sachs, its analysts think that Super Retail could be an ASX dividend share to buy. It is the owner of popular store brands BCF, Supercheap Auto, Macpac, and Rebel. The broker is a fan of Super Retail due to its belief that it has both a space and sales productivity lever to pull. Goldman also highlights its attractive valuation. It explains: While we believe that the nature of SUL's categories in Rebel Sports, Camping and Outdoor Wear is more discretionary compared to Electronics, Tech and Home, SUL is one of the few retailers in Australia that has both a space and sales productivity lever that we expect the company to be able to pull. It is trading on 14x FY25 P/E vs 4% FY24-27e EPS CAGR, a better value within our Discretionary Retail coverage vs. peers, in our opinion. Goldman expects Super Retail to pay fully franked dividends per share of 67 cents in FY 2025 and then 73 cents in FY 2026. Based on its current share price of $15.62, this will mean yields of 4.3% and 4.7%, respectively. The broker has a buy rating and $17.60 price target on its shares.casi cast 。

Ohtani wins third AP Male Athlete of the Year awardA million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now?

RIDGEWOOD, New Jersey (WABC) -- A New Jersey high school basketball star is doing everything to dominate cancer just as he's continued to do on the hardwood. Johnny Jackson, a senior at Ridgewood High School, is battling stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which first came about last year. "Obviously I still don't feel the greatest, I'm still in the midst of a battle on my hands," said Jackson. "I mean it's just amazing I'm back on the court at this moment." Jackson was battling fatigue after every game and kept going to doctors searching for answers. He was diagnosed with mono. It seemed to linger after numerous visits to the doctor. "Within 10 minutes of talking to the allergist, he said you have to go see an oncologist," said Joe Jackson, Johnny's father. "Every parents worst nightmare to hear that." The 18-year-old's family was shaken by the diagnosis, but his will and determination hasn't been deterred. "You can't help him in this, added Lynsey Jackson, Johnny's mother. "And that's the hardest thing as a mom. But, Johnny has been great the whole time and he's fighting. He told us we need to be strong for him." Jackson is hoping to reach the milestone mark of 2,000 points this season, and on the right track after three games. He is also hoping to lead Ridgewood to a Sectional Championship. "He is inspiring," said Paige Jackson, Johnny's sister. "No one can ever understand. I think this is the hardest thing will ever have to go through as a family." Jackson was honored before a Coaches vs Cancer game on Monday, an event that's gone on for the past 15 years in Ridgewood. ---------- * Get Eyewitness News Delivered * More New Jersey news * Send us a news tip * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts * Follow us on YouTubeIndia News | TDP MLA Slams Jagan Reddy over Electricity Charges Hike, Calls YSRCP Protests 'shamefulAs concerns about AI security, risk, and compliance continue to escalate, practical solutions remain elusive. While NIST released on July 26, 2024, most organizations are just beginning to digest and implement its guidance, with the formation of internal AI Councils as a first step in AI governance. So as AI adoption and risk increases, it’s time to understand why sweating the small and not-so-small stuff matters and where we go from here. Recently, I attended the annual member conference of the , a non-profit organization focused on improving cybersecurity defense for enterprises, universities, government agencies, and other organizations. From the discussions, it is clear that today, the critical focus for CISOs, CIOs, CDOs, and CTOs centers on protecting proprietary AI models from attack and protecting proprietary data from being ingested by public AI models. While a smaller number of organizations are concerned about the former problem, those in this category realize that they must protect against prompt injection attacks that cause models to drift, hallucinate, or completely fail. In the early days of AI deployment, there was no well-known incident equivalent to the 2013 Target breach that represented how an attack might play out. Most of the evidence is academic at this point in time. However, executives who have deployed their own models have begun to focus on how to protect their integrity, given it will be only a matter of time before a major attack becomes public information, resulting in brand damage and potentially greater harm. The latter issue, data protection, touches every company. How do you ensure that your core IP, code, customer data, etc., isn’t intentionally or accidentally exfiltrated into a public LLM model? It’s become ultra-important for CISOs to monitor LLM interactions, track protected source code in cloud repositories (repos), and prevent unauthorized AI indexing of intellectual property and other private data. From the data observed at the recent conference and talking with other industry security executives, it is clear that only a minority of organizations have deployed solutions to protect their enterprises against AI dangers. In general, it appears that there are three mindsets at this point in time: No matter your beliefs, protecting your organization’s internal data has to be at the top of the CISO checklist. For those with proprietary AI models, preventing malicious attacks, data leaks, or model contamination (both accidental and intentional) are critical tasks. Time is short to deliberate further on activating these cyber protections. As , it’s time to advance these organizational efforts in 2025. CISOs are and should be concerned about several AI-related areas in their cybersecurity pursuits. One is the monitoring of employee’s AI use. While many organizations can now track which Large Language Models (LLMs) employees are accessing, can your teams monitor the actual prompt content? For many, that’s a significant blind spot. Additionally, does your enterprise flat-out restrict or permit public LLM access? That’s an additional hand-wringing dilemma shared by technology executives. Even if there is a prohibition on corporate networks and assets, will employees find a way around these restrictions if they believe that they provide a shortcut to getting their work done? This can create the problem of Shadow AI, which organizations should avoid. Second, enterprises face concerns over data protection. AI usage may bring the risk of sensitive data exfiltration through AI interactions. Thus, CISOs must emphasize the need for a balance between accessibility and security and oversee the growing demand for logging and tracking capabilities. For example, a concern that security executives frequently discuss is the monitoring of source code movement into public repos or LLMs where it should never flow. Several notorious instances have been made public where developers foolishly or accidentally used public resources to troubleshoot or look for advice on how to fix their code. These have led to the exposure of core IP, API keys, and other sensitive data. So, how do you prevent your source code from being put into a public GitHub or GitLab repo or input to ChatGPT? While employee training is a must to avoid these behaviors, in some cases it goes directly against the desires of the development team to maximize productivity and meet schedule deadlines. I’ve talked to development executives who have encouraged the use of public tools and repos for their employees who are “stuck.” As one recently told me, it can create a time and quality advantage to upload code segments into public repos, so long as it is just a small enough segment that IP leakage is avoided. But how does one measure the risk of “small enough”? These are the types of situations that are driving a considerable thrust around next-generation data exfiltration, protection, and prevention. While the foundations of AI security threats exist, the current landscape is driven more by preventative concerns than actual incidents. We’ve heard rumors of model contamination or poisoning, even though documented research shows potential vulnerabilities (e.g., training image recognition models to misidentify objects). Anecdotal evidence shows that even LLM firewall providers haven’t encountered attacks in recent months. Sure, we hear about , but we’ve yet to hear much about an AI-generated attack in which an organization’s model was contaminated or poisoned. At this time, organizations need to focus on developing balanced, practical security measures rather than overly restrictive protocols. These will start with existing controls and be augmented with new AI-specific ones. As regulations continue to evolve, businesses need to implement new reasonable security measures while maintaining the productivity benefits of AI tools. The challenge lies in finding the balance between protection and practicality. CISOs should be taking essential small steps to protect against any data breach event and any accidental (or malicious) AI-related incidents. The first should be to have a clear, common-sense policy around your data usage, with internal limits for access. Your enterprise should have a policy around an LLM that’s no different than current policies for putting information into the cloud or web today. Continuous training is essential. Create an audit trail of employees’ interactions with a specific LLM. Find out what questions employees ask via LLM prompts and what data they might ingest. Track these efforts internally for further exploration. Choose to adopt a private instance explicitly built for the organization’s needs without compromising data privacy. Your enterprise needs to decide if your employees will access public LLMs or a dedicated, isolated version of an AI model trained solely on an organization’s data. This private instance will help ensure that sensitive information remains confidential and is not shared with other users or the broader AI platform. This customized internal AI system effectively controls the company’s data and model usage. After all these are implemented, CISOs can look at protecting their AI models once they are in place. With bigger use cases to come, that may be the subject of a forthcoming column here. Beyond focusing on the items discussed above, some CISOs foresee futuristic doomsday-type scenarios to be wary of. For example, what if a tech hacker disliked a particular hedge fund manager and launched a coordinated strike against all of the AI models their firm used to trade? That manipulation of financial trading platforms might cause the company and its investors to lose a great deal of money. Or imagine a bad actor that goes after the self-driving algorithms of automobiles, leading to physical harm. While we all hope these are in the realm of negative speculation at best, it’s not unreasonable to fathom that these types of attacks are possible in the future. And before you say that these models wouldn’t be accessible from the outside world, there is always the risk of an insider threat. Rogue employees exist, and you never know what a disgruntled employee on the opposite of the political spectrum could do. We hope we won’t have to contend with these extreme cases of model contamination for a very long time, if ever. However, security executives and their AI Councils must focus on preventing these risks, however small, from materializing.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nationally recognized law firm Berger Montague PC informs investors that a lawsuit was filed against Paragon 28, Inc. (“Paragon 28” or the “Company”) (NYSE: FNA) on behalf of purchasers of Paragon 28 securities between May 5, 2023 and September 20, 2024, inclusive (the “Class Period”) . Investors that suffered losses from PARAGON 28 (NYSE: FNA) investments can follow the link below for more information regarding the lawsuit: CLICK HERE to learn more about the lawsuit. Investors who purchased or acquired PARAGON 28 securities during the Class Period may, no later than NOVEMBER 29, 2024 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class. According to the lawsuit, Defendants misled investors throughout the Class Period as to the fact that: (i) Paragon 28’s financial statements were misstated; and (ii) Paragon 28 lacked adequate internal controls and at times understated the extent of the issues with Paragon 28’s internal controls. Investors began to learn the truth on July 30, 2024, when Paragon 28 disclosed that its “previously issued audited consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 . . . and the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements contained within the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023, September 30, 2023, and March 31, 2024 should no longer be relied upon due to errors in such financial statements , and therefore a restatement of these prior financial statements is required.” On this news, the price of Paragon 28 shares fell 13% to close at $7.79 per share on July 31, 2024. The complaint further alleges that on August 8, 2024, Paragon 28 filed an amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023 that included restated 2023 figures for inventories, net and cost of goods sold. On this news, the price of Paragon 28 common stock fell more than 20% to close at $6.64 per share on August 9, 2024. Finally, on September 20, 2024, Paragon disclosed that Chief Accounting Officer Erik Mickelson was abruptly leaving the Company. On this news, Paragon shares declined $0.30 per share, or 4.3%, to close at $6.57 per share on September 23, 2024. For additional information or to learn how to participate in this litigation, please contact Berger Montague: Andrew Abramowitz at aabramowitz@bm.net or (215) 875-3015, or Peter Hamner at phamner@bm.net or (215) 875-3048, or CLICK HERE . A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Communicating with any counsel is not necessary to participate or share in any recovery achieved in this case. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as a lead plaintiff through counsel of his/her choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an inactive class member. Berger Montague , with offices in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Delaware, Washington, D.C., San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago, has been a pioneer in securities class action litigation since its founding in 1970. Berger Montague has represented individual and institutional investors for over five decades and serves as lead counsel in courts throughout the United States. Contacts: Andrew Abramowitz, Senior Counsel Berger Montague (215) 875-3015 aabramowitz@bm.net Peter Hamner Berger Montague PC (215) 875-3048 phamner@bm.net

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the unraveling and undisciplined New York Jets on Sunday. The Bills put the game away by capitalizing on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defense forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter. Allen had a short and efficient outing, finishing 16 of 27 for 182 yards with a and a 14-yarder to Keon Coleman before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky with Buffalo leading 33-0 through three quarters. And Trubisky piled on by completing a 69-yard touchdown pass to practice squad call-up Tyrell Shavers 2:23 into the fourth quarter. Allen’s two-TD passing outing was the 64th of his career to match Peyton Manning for the third most in a player’s first seven NFL seasons. Patrick Mahomes holds the record with 67 two-TD outings in that span, followed by Dan Marino’s 65. Allen also became the NFL’s first player with five consecutive 40-TD seasons, while his 1-yard score was the 65th rushing TD of his career, matching the team record held by Thurman Thomas. The five-time defending AFC East champion Bills improved to 13-3 to match a franchise single-season record, and will open the playoffs hosting the conference’s seventh-seeded team in two weeks. The outing was a meltdown for Rodgers and the Jets (4-12), who will finish with five or fewer wins for the seventh time over a 14-season playoff drought — the NFL’s longest active streak. Rodgers, who entered the game with 499 career TD passes and looking to become just the fifth player to reach 500, instead was shut out and replaced by Tyrod Taylor with 12:37 remaining. Discipline was an issue for a Jets team that fell to 2-9 since Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim coach. New York finished with 16 accepted penalties for 120 yards. Taylor accounted for New York’s only points with a 9-yard TD pass to Garrett Wilson and a 20-yarder to Tyler Conklin in a game played in blustery, unseasonably warm conditions, with temperatures in the mid-50s Farenheit (10 Celsius) and winds gusting up to 35 mph (56 kmph). Rodgers finished 12 of 18 for 112 yards with two interceptions after entering the game having thrown only one in his past eight outings. He was also sacked four times, pushing his career total to 568, moving ahead of Tom Brady (565) and into first place on the NFL list. The outing became a comedy of errors for the Jets. Trailing 7-0 after Allen’s 1-yard run, New York’s three possession of the first half ended with turning the ball over on downs Buffalo’s 24; Rodgers being intercepted at his own 17 by ; and being sacked for a safety by A.J. Epenesa. The bottom fell out to close the third quarter when Rodgers’ being intercepted by Christian Benford led to Cooper’s leaping TD grab put Buffalo up 19-0. James Cook scored on a 1-yard run on Buffalo’s next possession with 1:15 left, and Coleman’s touchdown with 12 seconds left in the third was set up after Wilson lost a fumble. The Bills finished their third season with a perfect record, and first since 1990, by going 8-0 at home. They've won 11 straight regular-season home games dating to last season since dropping a 24-22 decision to Denver on Nov. 13. Jets CB Sauce Gardner aggravated a hamstring injury in the first half and was ruled out in the third quarter. Jets: Close the season hosting the Miami Dolphins. Bills: Play their regular-season finale at the New England Patriots. AP NFL:Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell calls out 'curious' headset failure at crucial timeMike McDaniel’s five word statement to 49ers star Nick Bosa caught on TV cameras as Dolphins fans fear NFL punishment

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Aidan O'Connell passed for two touchdowns, tight end Brock Bowers , and the Las Vegas Raiders won for just the fourth time this season, 25-10 over the struggling New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Bowers' seven catches for 77 yards gave him 108 receptions for 1,144 yards this season, eclipsing Mike Ditka's 1961 rookie tight end mark of 1,067 yards receiving and Puka Nacua's 2023 mark of 105 catches by a rookie at any position. Bowers also surpassed Darren Waller's franchise mark of 107 receptions in a season, which had stood since 2020. Ameer Abdullah rushed for 115 yards for the Raiders (4-12) — the journeyman running back's first 100-yard game in his 10 NFL seasons. O'Connell finished with 242 yards passing, including a 3-yard TD pass to Jakobi Meyers and an 18-yarder to Tre Tucker. Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals — his longest from 54 yards — for the Raiders, who didn't look fazed by flight delays on Saturday that got them into their hotel after midnight, less than 12 hours before kickoff. With former Raiders QB Derek Carr unable to suit up for the Saints (5-11) because of his injured left, non-throwing hand, rookie Spencer Rattler received his fifth career start. He remained winless as a starter after completing 20 of 36 passes for 218 yards and one TD with two interceptions. Rattler also rushed for 46 yards to finish as New Orleans' leading rusher for a second straight week. The Saints . Running back Kendre Miller took what looked like a toss sweep to the right before throwing a lateral back to his left, where Rattler caught it and threw 30 yards downfield to wide-open tight end Foster Moreau in the end zone. Las Vegas moved in front for good on O'Connell's short scoring pass to Meyers with a minute left in the second quarter. Saints: Miller left the game with concussion symptoms in the second quarter. LB Jaylan Ford appeared to suffer a serious lower right leg injury on punt coverage in the fourth quarter. DE Payton Turner left with an ankle injury. WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling was treated on the field late in the game — but walked off on his own — after a hard collision over the middle. Raiders: Host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Saints: Visit Tampa Bay on Sunday. AP NFL:†̃President Musk's growing power shapes Washington politics

Roivios Initiates Landmark Study to Demonstrate Safety and Efficacy of an Innovative Renal Assist Device for Cardiac Surgery Patients With Kidney Disease NASSAU, Bahamas , Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Roivios , a pioneering clinical-stage medical device company dedicated to revolutionizing kidney health, proudly announces that its research and development arm, 3ive Labs, has secured approval for an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA. This approval paves the way for a pivotal trial of the JuxtaFlow Renal Assist Device (RAD), marking a transformative step forward in enhancing outcomes for cardiac surgery patients with renal insufficiency. The GRADIENT ( G roundbreaking R enal A ssist D evice I ntervening to EN hance cardio T horacic surgery outcomes) trial is designed to address the critical need for renal support among cardiac surgery patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). These patients often face increased risks of postoperative complications, such as worsening renal dysfunction, which can lead to extended ICU stays and increased mortality. "The GRADIENT Trial offers an invaluable opportunity to further explore renal support during cardiac surgery," said Dr. Evelio Rodriguez , a renowned heart surgeon at Ascension Saint Thomas in Nashville, TN , and the National Principal Investigator of the GRADIENT trial. "The JuxtaFlow device offers new hope for some of our most vulnerable patients." JuxtaFlow RAD is an innovative device designed to potentially improve kidney function during times of acute stress. By applying a gentle suction to the kidney's outlet, it aims to enhance blood filtration more efficiently. This groundbreaking approach was recognized with an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in April. The GRADIENT study will be a prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label trial that plans to enroll patients with renal insufficiency (eGFR 15-60 ml/min) undergoing elective or urgent cardiac surgery requiring CPB. The study seeks to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the JuxtaFlow RAD to sustain or enhance renal function during and following CPB surgery. "Achieving Breakthrough Device Designation was instrumental in securing IDE approval," noted John Erbey , Chief Executive Officer at Roivios. "This initiative is the culmination of a decade of technological and clinical advancements in addressing kidney disease management challenges. Our ongoing dialogue with the FDA is paving the way for more effective management, empowering patients to thrive. We are eager to commence IDE enrollment and explore the JuxtaFlow RAD's potential to improve surgical outcomes and enhance patient quality of life." For more information about Roivios and the JuxtaFlow Renal Assist Device, please visit Roivios.com . About JuxtaFlow RAD The JuxtaFlow RAD is a pioneering investigational device set to transform kidney support therapy. Acknowledging the harmful effects of fluid accumulation and pressure on the kidneys, Roivios has advanced beyond traditional blood filtration methods that can further stress the kidneys. By applying mild, controlled negative pressure within the kidney's collecting system, the device has the potential to maintain and improve filtration and support recovery. This novel approach holds promise for a compelling value proposition by preserving kidney function and expediting patient recovery, ultimately reducing hospital stays and associated costs. Equipped with a proprietary specialized catheters and pump, the device optimizes kidney function during critical recovery periods, such as post-surgery. Currently, the JuxtaFlow RAD is under investigation and is not available for sale in any geography. About Roivios Roivios is a clinical-stage medical device company committed to pioneering solutions for kidney health. Our lead product, the JuxtaFlow Renal Assist Device (RAD), is designed to preserve kidney function and offer a proactive approach to managing kidney disease. We aim to demonstrate improved renal outcomes, potentially reducing the need for dialysis, and lowering healthcare costs. Holding proprietary patents in key kidney technologies, we aim to revolutionize kidney disease management. With plans to extend its application beyond kidney disease to various medical settings, Roivios is preparing for a transformative U.S. launch, aiming to redefine kidney disease management and improve patient quality of life. Discover more at roivios.com . This release contains forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ significantly. Media Contact : Kelly Krueger , Krueger PR, [email protected] SOURCE Roivios, ltd

Since Pokemon Go’s inception, fan favorites have had passionate advocates, but none have gone as hard or with as much dedication as one major Caterpie fan. Now might finally be their chance to see a dream realized. The start of the year means new Seasons , fresh featured debuts, and new events for Pokemon Go fans. While many are content to catch new Gigantamax Pokemon , or prep for the upcoming Go Tour, others are taking to social media, demanding additions still missing from the mobile app. One trainer, known as the Cowboy Hat Caterpie player on social media, has seen an opportunity to fight for their own request following a social media post on the main Pokemon Go X account, and others are flocking in, adding their voices to what has become the most desired hat Pokemon request for the game. Cowboy Hat Caterpie demanded in Pokemon Go In the post shared by Niantic , the team has asked what players would like to see in Pokemon Go’s 2025 Community Day schedule. Which Pokémon would you like to see featured in 2025 #PokemonGOCommunityDay ? 👀 Players have flocked to the post to share their thoughts. As usual, the Cowboy Hat Caterpie account is one of the first comments to appear on the post. However, instead of leaving it at the usual “Cowboy Hat Caterpie please” request that has become a staple of X updates for the game, the Caterpie stan has added several more comments. pic.twitter.com/5bEMsmEW8S Other players have joined in on the call to action, advocating for a Caterpie Community Day alongside the poster. Others have commented on the request, with one stating, “Got here just to see this tweet.” Related: One of the most heartwarming responses that has been added reads, “PLEASE PLEEEEAAAAAASS MAKE A COWBOY HAT CATERPIE!!! Everyone wants this for @MikeNerdlaw I swear, he’s literally the most consistent reply post person in the history of social media!” In the past, Snorlax has appeared wearing a Cowboy Hat, indicating that more Pokemon could likely end up with the item Unfortunately, it isn’t likely the responses to the social media post will have much of an impact on what may already be lined up for the 2025 Community Day schedule. These features are often set well in advance, and at least the first few months of events are likely already set in stone. Despite this, the Cowboy Hat Caterpie community is strong, and the rally around Caterpie’s biggest advocate is wonderful to see. While the Kanto Bug-type might not ever get anything for the top of its head, it will always have a place in fans’ hearts.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was shackled and seated in a Manhattan court when he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea. The Manhattan district attorney charged him last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism . Mangione's initial appearance in New York’s state trial court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the shooting. The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks , with the state charges expected to go to trial first. One of Mangione’s attorneys told a judge that government officials, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, have turned Mangione into a political pawn, robbing him of his rights as a defendant and tainting the jury pool. “I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial,” said Karen Friedman Agnifilo. Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood among a throng of heavily armed officers last Thursday when Mangione was flown to a Manhattan heliport and escorted up a pier after being extradited from Pennsylvania. Friedman Agnifilo said police turned Mangione’s return to New York into a choreographed spectacle. “He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest stage perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary,” she said. In a statement, Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said: “Critics can say all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core.” “The cold-blooded assassination of Brian Thompson — a father of two — and the terror it infused on the streets of New York City for days has since been sickeningly glorified, shining a spotlight on the darkest corners of the internet,” Mamelak Altus said. Friedman Agnifilo also accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories, calling their approach confusing and highly unusual. “He is being treated like a human pingpong ball between warring jurisdictions here,” she said Monday. State trial court Judge Gregory Carro said he has little control over what happens outside the courtroom, but can guarantee Mangione will receive a fair trial. Authorities say Mangione gunned down Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec 4. Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors. At a news conference last week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.” “In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,” he added. Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried. During his court appearance Monday, he smiled at times when talking with his attorneys and stretched his right hand after an officer removed his cuffs. Outside the courthouse, a few dozen supporters chanted, “Free Luigi,” over the blare of a trumpet. Natalie Monarrez, a 55-year-old Staten Island resident, said she joined the demonstration because she lost both her mother and her life savings as a result of denied insurance claims. “As extreme as it was, it jolted the conversation that we need to deal with this issue,” she said of the shooting. “Enough is enough, people are fed up.” An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client , according to the insurer. Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021. The killing has prompted some to voice their resentment at U.S. health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. It also has sent shockwaves through the corporate world , rattling executives who say they have received a spike in threats.Lennar ( LEN -5.16% ) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Dec 19, 2024 , 11:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Welcome to Lennar's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. [Operator instructions]. I will now turn the call over to David Collins for the reading of the forward-looking statements. David M. Collins -- Vice President and Corporate Controller Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Today's conference call may include forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Lennar's business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, strategies and prospects. Forward-looking statements represent only Lennar's estimates on the date of this conference call and are not intended to give any assurance as to actual future results. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could affect future results and may cause Lennar's actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in our earnings release and our SEC filings, including those under the caption Risk Factors contained in Lennar's annual report on Form 10-K most recently filed with the SEC. Please note that Lennar assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Questions & Answers: Operator I would like to introduce your host, Mr. Stuart Miller, executive chairman and co-CEO. Sir, you may begin. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Very good, and thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining today. I'm in Miami today, together with Jon Jaffe, our co-CEO and President; Diane Bessette, our chief financial officer; David Collins, who you just heard from, our controller and vice president; Fred Rothman is here, our chief operating officer; and Marshall Ames as well, chairman of the Lennar Charitable Foundation, along with a few others. As usual, I'm going to give a macro and strategic overview of the company. After my introductory remarks, Jon is going to give an operational overview, updating some construction costs, cycle time, and some of our land strategy and position. As usual, Diane is going to give a detailed financial highlight along with some limited guidance for the first quarter of 2025. And then of course, we'll have our question-and-answer period. And as usual, I'd like to ask that you please limit to one question and one follow-up so that we can accommodate as many as possible. So let me begin. Our fourth quarter was a challenging quarter at Lennar, as interest rates climbed approximately 100 basis points through the quarter and further challenged affordability. Starting early in the quarter, we saw sales stall at then existing price and incentive levels. That necessitated increased incentives, interest rate buy downs, and price adjustments to activate sales and avoid increased inventory buildup. Accordingly, our fourth-quarter results missed expectations as new orders were 16,895 short of the 19,000 we expected and our gross margin was 22.1% short of the 22.5% that we expected. The shortfall in margin resulted from increased incentives on homes sold and delivered within the quarter. Accordingly, we are moderating our expectations for margins and sales in the first quarter of 2025 as the market adjusts and stabilizes. Overall, the economic environment, which we believed last quarter was constructive for the homebuilding industry, has certainly turned more challenging as longer-term interest rates along with mortgage rates have climbed steadily since our last earnings call. While underlying demand for new homes remains very strong and the supply of available dwellings remains chronically short, a combination of wavering consumer confidence and elevated cost of acquisition have challenged the customers' desire and ability to transact. While there continues to be considerable traffic of customers looking for homes, the urgency to actually transact has quieted as customers adjust to a new normal. Of course, affordability has been a limiting factor for demand and access to homeownership for some time now. Inflation and interest rates have hindered the ability of the average family to accumulate a down payment or to qualify for a mortgage. Higher interest rates have also locked households in lower interest rate mortgages, and curtailed the natural move up as families expand and need more space. Rate buy-downs and incentives have enabled demand to access the market. While consumers remain employed and are generally confident that they will remain employed and their compensation will rise, higher interest rates and inflation have outstripped their ability or desire to act. While strong employment often goes hand in hand with a strong housing market, interest rates have put many with need on the sidelines. As strong demand enabled by incentives and mortgage rate buy downs has driven the new home market over the past years. We expect the broad-based demand cycle to reestablish as rates stabilize or even moderate and as pent-up demand continues to build against short supply, while demand has been constrained by affordability, the supply of homes remains constrained. The well-documented chronic housing shortage is the result of years of underproduction. This shortage is exacerbated by continuing shortfalls in production driven by now muted demand together with already existing restrictive land permitting and higher impact fees at local levels and higher construction costs across the housing landscape. Mayors and governors across the country are acutely aware of the housing shortage and shortfall in their respective geographies. Many have been pounding the table about the need for affordable housing, attainable housing and workforce housing in their respective markets. On a final note, immigration and tariffs have recently been added to the list of questions and potential concerns confronting the industry. We recognize that the landscape is still being shaped around these issues and cannot be addressed with certainty. Nevertheless, our early evaluation suggests limited impact to us and to the industry, and Jon will discuss this in further detail shortly. Against this macro backdrop, we continue to have conviction around the two core parts of our operating strategy. First, we are focused on volume and matching our production with the sales base, while our execution in the fourth quarter was challenged by the rapid and unexpected change in the direction of interest rates, we did adjust and adapt to new market conditions and we adjusted incentives and pricing and we did not enable our inventory levels to spike. We are currently focused on keeping sales volume up as we accelerate in order to catch-up pace and correct the sales miss that we had in the fourth quarter. Of course, the catch-up in sales pace comes at a cost, and that cost is additional pressure on margin. Accordingly, as we have looked ahead to the deliveries in the first quarter of 2025, we expect to sell between 17,500 homes and 18,000 homes and deliver between 17,000 and 17,500 homes. We expect our margin to be 19% to 19.25% as we expect approximately 50% of the deliveries in the quarter will be sold during the quarter, and this will dilute the 20% margin that is already embedded in our backlog. Nevertheless, we are focused on driving sales and closings, driving strong current cash flow even at reduced profitability, and maintaining carefully managed inventory levels so that as market conditions stabilize or improve, we will benefit from normalized margins across our growing volume. Secondly, and simultaneously, we continue to migrate our operating platform to an asset like configuration. We are much closer to the completion of the strategic rework of our operating platform from being a land company that happens to build homes to becoming a pure play land-light asset-light, manufacturing model homebuilder that benefits from just in time finished homesite delivery. Again, we have conviction that our structured asset-light land-light model enables far more predictable volume and growth with a much lower asset base and lower risk profile that has been and will continue to be at the core of our operating model. The value of this structure will be seen in the execution of our Rausch Coleman combination in conjunction with the Millrose spin and I'll discuss this in more detail shortly. Consistent volume and growth enable improving operating efficiencies in construction costs, cycle time, customer acquisition costs and SG&A. Additionally, it has driven consistent and dependable cash flow even with variable bottom-line results. And finally, it has enabled the consistent and predictable takedown of just in time delivered fully developed home site, and that has attracted capital to the structured land banking partnerships that have driven the nearly $20 billion of transaction that have enabled our land-light transformation to date. We are confident that our operating strategy of consistent volume and growth with a just in time delivery of developed homesites will continue to enable our company to be best positioned to rationalize our cost structure, and be best positioned with strong volume as margins normalize. Let me turn back briefly to our fourth-quarter operating results. As I noted earlier, while we are disappointed with our fourth-quarter actual results, they do represent a consistent and strategic quarter of operating results in the context of a difficult affordability environment. As mortgage interest rates migrated higher to around 7% through the quarter, we drove volume with starts while we incentivized sales to enable affordability. In our fourth quarter, we started almost 18,500 homes, sold almost 17,000 homes, and closed approximately 22,200 homes. While I have already talked about market conditions, later starts and sales were also attributable to a lighter community count at the beginning of the quarter, which has now been corrected. We have been able to solve the community count shortfall that we described last quarter and we brought our community count up from 1,283 communities at the end of the third quarter to 1,447 communities, which is now 13% higher than last quarter and 15% higher than the prior year. Our community count positions us materially better to drive the volume we expect at lower absorption rates as we enter 2025. We expect lower absorption rates to put less stress on our margin over time, as we deliver between 86,000 and 88,000 homes in 2025 reflecting an 8% to 10% increase over 2024. During the fourth quarter, sales incentives rose to 10.8% as we addressed affordability and the community count lag. As an offset, we were able to maintain construction costs and reduce cycle time as Jon will detail shortly, and we have maintained our customer acquisition costs while our SG&A rose to 7.2% reflecting our lower volume and lower average sales price leverage. On the positive side, we have driven production pace in sync with sales pace, and have used our margin as a point of adjustment to enable consistent cash flow. Our strategy has enabled us to repurchase another 3 million shares of stock for $521 million in the fourth quarter, bringing our total stock repurchase for the year to 13.6 million shares for over $2 billion in cash. We ended the quarter with $4.7 billion of cash on book and a 7.5% debt to total capital ratio. We are extremely well positioned to spin Millrose and to be able to continue to repurchase shares and reduce debt as we have driven strong overall operating results to date. We continue to be exceptionally positioned as a company from our balance sheet to our operating strategy to be able to adjust and address as the -- to adjust and address the market as it unfolds as we enter 2025. With that said, we're very optimistic about our future. On the one hand, we remain confident that the current volatility driven by affordability and interest rates will subside. Demands will adapt to a new normal, and the supply shortage will remain the dominant theme. Volume will continue to help reduce our cost structure and incentives will normalize, and margins will normalize and our increased volume will multiply bottom line. On the other hand, we are equally enthusiastic about the Millrose spin and the Rausch Coleman acquisition and the way both will work together. As most of you know, from yesterday's press release, Millrose Properties, the subsidiary we formed to carry out the spin that we announced some time ago has now filed a public SEC registration statement and it is available on the SEC website. In the very near future, the spin-off will be public and that will complete our now almost five-year migration to an asset light operating model. Millrose will be the first publicly listed land banking brief and will use our homesite option purchase platform that we call the hopper to provide just in time fully developed homesite inventory for Lennar. For Lennar related ventures, and subsequently to other home builders across the U.S. as well. The Hopper is a comprehensive suite of systems and procedures used to operate and manage the acquisition, financing, and development of land assets at scale, designed and refined by Lennar over the past 20 years. Millrose will be externally managed by a subsidiary of Kennedy Lewis Investments and Institutional alternative investment firm with approximately $17 billion in AUM and extensive experience with both Lennar and with the land and land development business for home builders. All of Millrose's operating costs will be paid by Kennedy Lewis through its management fee and Millrose will have no employees of its own. Millrose will receive consistent cash flows pursuant to option contracts. It will receive recurring monthly option payments, which will be used to pay predictable dividends to shareholders, and will additionally receive initial deposits and proceeds from the sale of fully developed homesites. Millrose will recycle proceeds from the sale of fully developed homesites into new acquisition and development land deals without needing to raise new investor funds. Accordingly, Millrose is an added source of more permanent capital for Lennar, and as an addition to organically negotiated option agreements with developers and other professionally managed programs that are currently private equity based. As such, Millrose is an important evolution of our landline strategy as it enables growth through attractive organic and inorganic opportunities, improved cash flow generation, and strong return on equity and inventory to Lennar. Lennar will contribute to Millrose approximately $5.2 billion of undeveloped and partially developed land and approximately $1 billion of cash. Additionally, Millrose will acquire approximately $900 million of land assets as part of our Rausch Coleman acquisition. While Lennar will acquire the WIP inventory and the homebuilding operations. We believe that the ongoing relationship with Millrose can facilitate other transactions in an asset-light manner as well. Millrose will be positioned with adequate capital to operate its core business, and will have a balance sheet that enables additional debt or equity as needed for strategic engagement or for growth. Lennar will distribute 80% of the stock of Millrose to Lennar shareholders. There will be one share of Millrose stock for every two shares of Lennar. Lennar will shortly thereafter dispose of the remaining 20%, which by the way is non-voting in a distribution of Millrose shares or a potential exchange for Lennar shares, which would basically effectuate a cashless buyback of Lennar shares. Let me say this one more time as it might be a little confusing. The additional 20% interest, which is non-voting shares will be retained by Lennar for a very brief period of time and will quickly either be distributed or exchanged for Lennar shares to effectuate a cashless stock buyback. Needless to say, we are very excited to bring Millrose public in the very near future. Now, let me turn briefly to the Rausch Coleman acquisition. As I have noted, the Millrose spin will work hand-in-hand with our previously announced purchase of Rausch Coleman Homes, which is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Rausch Coleman is led by John Rausch, a fourth-generation builder, who built his company into the 21st largest homebuilder in the country. We look forward to welcoming John and his extraordinary team to the Lennar family as John will continue to work alongside Lennar as a partner and many of the Rausch Coleman associates will actually join the company. This acquisition fits squarely into our strategic growth plan of acquiring companies in concert with our Millrose Property spin-off, where Lennar acquires the operating assets, including when and Millrose acquires the Land Holdings. This enabled Lennar to acquire with a limited investment and producing a high return enabled by the Millrose platform. Rausch Coleman builds in 12 primary markets across seven states and is the No. 1 builder by market share in six of these markets. This acquisition will result in our expanding into new and desirable markets in Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri, while growing our existing operations in Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida. Rausch Coleman is a very strong cultural fit for Lennar, sharing a common operational philosophy focused on the building of reasonably priced homes with strong basic home designs. Like Lennar, Rausch Coleman offers few optional changes in proven markets and has an overall commitment to delivering high quality homes within budget and on schedule. We expect that the acquisition will add approximately 100 communities, 4,000 deliveries, and 4,000 new orders in 2025. Assuming that this acquisition closes by the end of the first quarter. After the 2025 activity, there will be more than 37,000 homesites controlled through Millrose for Lennar's operation in 2026 and beyond. The 2025 activity is concentrated 30% in markets where Lennar has existing operations and 70% in new markets where Lennar will take advantage of Rausch Coleman's exceptional reputation and well-run operations as we integrate into one Lennar. We are very excited about the Rausch Coleman position to the Lennar footprint. So we've covered a lot, and in conclusion, let me say that while this has been a difficult quarter, and year end for Lennar, while the short-term road ahead might look a little choppy, we are very optimistic about the longer-term road ahead. In spite of bumps in the road, this is an exciting time for Lennar. At Lennar, we are upgrading the financial and operating platform, as we drive production and sales. We have continued to drive production to meet the housing shortage that we know persists across our markets. With that said, as interest rates normalize, we believe that pent-up demand will be activated and margin will recover, and we are well prepared with a strong and growing national footprint, growing community count, and growing volume. Perhaps most importantly, our strong balance sheet and even stronger land banking relations afford us flexibility and opportunity to consider and execute upon thoughtful growth for our future. In that regard, we will focus on our manufacturing model and continue to use our land partnerships to grow with a focus on high returns, on capital and equity. We will also continue to focus on our pure-play business model and reduce exposure to non-core assets. We will continue to drive just in time homesite delivery and an asset-light balance sheet. And as we complete our asset-light transformation, we will continue to generate strong cash flow and return capital to our shareholders through dividends and stock buyback, while we also pursue strategic growth. For now, we are guiding to 17,000 to 17,500 closings in the first quarter of '25, with a margin of 19% to 19.25%, and we expect to deliver approximately 86,000 to 88,000 homes in 2025. We also expect to continue to repurchase stock in 2025, and we will determine the amount as we watch the evolution of our Millrose spin and our land-light operating model perform. We look forward to 2025, and for that I want to thank the extraordinary associates of Lennar for their tremendous focus, effort, and talent. With that, let me turn over to Jon. Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Thanks, Stuart, and good morning, everyone. As you just heard our operational teams of Lennar continue to focus on executing our operating strategy to become a consistent high-volume homebuilding manufacturer using margin as a shock absorber. I'll discuss our fourth-quarter performance on sales pace, cost reduction, cycle time reduction, and asset-light land position. Our focus begins with knowing the sales pace needed to match our production pace. While our production both start pace and cycle time performed as expected as Stuart noted market conditions changed from what we anticipated and our sales did not keep pace. As the quarter began, we expected affordability to ease and we priced accordingly. However, mortgage rates climbed instead of lowering and this pricing led to our underachieving the design sales pace for the first part of the quarter. As we saw that mortgage rates remained higher and the consumer needed more help with affordability, we adjusted our pricing to meet the market where it was. As we made these adjustments, we then continuously measured results against the desired pace and if we were still not achieving pace, we adjusted further. These incentives primarily were in the form of mortgage rate buy downs and for some buyers we used closing costs or price reductions to address their specific needs. In addition to adjusting pricing, our divisions engage daily with Lennar Machine to evaluate, if we had the volume of leads and appointments needed and if not we adjusted the digital marketing plan. The sales shortfall led to our overall fourth-quarter sales pace of 4.2 homes per community per month being lower than our start pace of 4.6. While sales were slower for the first part of the quarter, we adjusted as I noted resulting in our November pace of 4.6 sales per community per month that enabled us to end the quarter with an average of about two unsold completed homes per community. To be clear, it wasn't that the market improved in November, it was our adjusting incentives to where the market was that improved pace. Contrasted with a more challenging sales environment, our construction cost and cycle time continued to benefit throughout the fourth quarter from our focus on even flow production along with our high volume. This focus on a manufacturing approach along with the maximized efficiencies of our core product strategy will allow us to continue to improve cost and cycle time into 2025. The fourth quarter our construction costs were consistent with Q3, and decreased on a year-over-year basis by 2%, accomplishing a 2% cost reduction during an inflationary environment consisting of higher labor and material cost inputs for the supply chain over the past year demonstrates the effectiveness of our strategy and affirms the benefits of our builder of choice approach. This manufacturing strategy also resulted in continued reduction in cycle time. In our fourth-quarter cycle time decreased on average by two days sequentially from Q3 down to 138 calendar days on average for single family detached homes. This is a 23-day or 14% decrease year over year in a material contributor to our inventory turn improvement. I also want to comment on the potential impacts of new tariffs or immigration policies as each have the potential to of affecting costs and cycle time. With respect to tariffs, we made a major shift starting eight years ago to move away from Chinese and other Asian manufacturing to where today the majority of what we purchase from our supply chain is from U.S. based manufacturers. There remain some parts made in China, primarily electronic components used in the manufacturing of products that are assembled here. These components become subject to tariffs. We estimate the potential cost impact to be in the range of $5,000 to $7,000 per vote. With respect to lumber, we've already shifted to more usage of domestically grown timber. On the issue of immigration, the potential impact of a change in immigration policies is much more difficult to assess. First, we do not know what policies will be implemented. Additionally, there is no reliable information on what percentage of the workforce for our local labor and trades or for our manufacturers may be subject to new regulation and enforcement. What we do know, just like with the supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, is that we will be able to work with our local trades and national manufacturers to find the most effective solutions because of our builder of choice position with consistent high volume and a focus on production efficiencies. We've learned from that prior experience how important our strategy is to the supply chain, allowing us to minimize the impact from disruptions, and we believe we'll be able to do the same again. In the fourth quarter to effectively work with our strategic land developers and land -- sorry in the fourth quarter, we continue to effectively work with our strategic land developers and land bank partners to purchase land on our behalf and then deliver just in time finish homesites to our homebuilding machine. Diane will give the detail on how our land bank purchases in the quarter breakout, but most of the purchases are just in time takedowns to match our start pace on a community-by-community basis. During the quarter, land banks acquired on our behalf about 17,000 homesites for about $1.5 billion in land acquisition and a commitment of about $640 million in land development. With the focus on being asset-light. Our supply of own homesites decreased to 1.1 years down from 1.4 years and controlled homesite percentage increase to 82% from 76% year over year. These improvements in the execution of our operating strategies enabled reduced cycle time and left land owned, resulting in improved inventory turn, which now stands at 1.6 versus 1.5 last year, a 7% increase. Fourth quarter was a challenge operating environment. As mortgage rates moved higher home buyers needed more help to achieve a monthly payment they can afford. We'll continue with our strategy of pricing to market as we navigate whichever direction the rates move in 2025. We will lean into the Lennar marketing sales machine and stay focused on even flow of high-volume manufacturing production, and with Millrose in place execute even better on our asset-light land strategy. I also want to acknowledge and thank our extraordinary associates for their hard work focus and execution. And now, I'll turn it over to Diane. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Jon, and good morning, everyone. Stuart and Jon have provided a great deal of color regarding our operating performance. So therefore, I'm going to spend a few minutes summarizing the balance sheet highlights and then provide estimates for the first quarter. So turning to the balance sheet. Once again, as you've heard, we are here to our volume-based strategy of maximizing returns by turning inventory at the appropriate market margin. The result of these actions was that we drove cash flow and ended the year with $4.7 billion of cash and no borrowings on our $2.9 billion revolving credit facility. This provided total liquidity of approximately $7.6 billion. As a result of our continued focus on balance sheet efficiency and reducing our capital investment, we once again continued to migrate toward our goal of becoming land-light. At year end, our years owned was 1.1 years and our homesites controlled was 82%, our lowest years owned and highest controlled percentage in our history. We ended the year owning 85,000 homesites and controlling 394,000 homesites for a total of 479,000 homesites. We believe this portfolio provides us with a strong competitive position to continue to grow market share in a capital efficient way. We spent $2.1 billion on land purchases this quarter. However, almost 80% were finished homesites where vertical construction will soon begin. This is consistent with our manufacturing model of buying land on a just-in-time basis. Of the homes closed during the quarter, approximately 66% were from third-party land structures where we purchased the homesite on a finish basis. And finally, our inventory churn was 1.6x, up from 1.5x last year, and our return on inventory was 29.2%. As we move forward with the Millrose spin-off, and thus continue to reduce our ownership of land and purchase homesites on a just-in-time basis. Our earnings should more consistently approximate cash flow and over time, it would be our goal to align capital return to shareholders more closely with this cash flow. During the quarter and consistent with production focus, we started about 18,400 homes and ended the quarter with 35,600 homes in inventory. This inventory number includes approximately 2,900 homes that were completed unsold, which is about two homes per community and within our historical range. And then turning to our debt position, we had no redemptions or repurchases of senior notes this quarter. However, for the 2024 year, we repaid $554 million of notes, and since 2018 we have repaid or repurchased over $7 billion of notes with an interest rate savings of almost $400 million. These actions brought our homebuilding debt to total capital ratio down to 7.5% at year-end, our lowest ever, and our next debt maturity is not until May of 2025. Consistent with our commitment to increase shareholder returns, as Stuart noted we repurchased 3 million of our outstanding shares for $521 million. This brought the total for the year to 13.6 million shares totaling $2.1 billion. Additionally, we paid total cash dividends this quarter of $135 million and a total of approximately $550 million for the year. So, in the aggregate for fiscal 2024, we returned about $3.3 billion to our equity and debt holders. Our stockholders' equity increased to almost $28 billion, and our book value per share increased to $104. In summary, the strength of our balance sheet, strong liquidity, and low leverage provides us with significant confidence and financial flexibility as we move into 2025. So with that brief overview, I'd like to turn to Q1 and provide some guidance estimates. Note that these estimates do not include the impact of the acquisition of Rausch Coleman or our spin-off. So starting with new orders, we expect Q1 new orders to be in the range of 17,500 to 18,000 homes, as we match sales pace with production, we anticipate our Q1 deliveries to be in the range of 17,000 to 17,500 homes with a continued focus on turning inventory into cash. Our Q1 average sales price on those deliveries should be about 410,000 to 415,000, as we continue to price to market to meet affordability. We expect our gross margins to be between 19% and 19.25%. So as Stuart alluded to provide additional context, the gross margin in our backlog expected to close in the first quarter is about 20%. What we do not have visibility into at this point is the gross margin on homes we expect to both sell and close in the first quarter, which we anticipate will be roughly 50% of the closing. As we sit here in mid-December with the limited visibility we are going to have into the spring selling season, we anticipate these closings will have a lower gross margin than our backlog. However, if market conditions improve, we will benefit from this upside. Additionally, recall that our Q1 margins are always negatively impacted by the current period expensing of field costs. Since revenues in Q1 are the lowest of the year. Additionally, as historically is the case, the first quarter will be the low point for margins during 2025. Our SG&A percentage should be in the range of 8.7% to 8.8% as we anticipate increased cost to maintain sales activity. For the combined home building joint venture, land sales, and other categories, we expect to be about break-even. We anticipate our financial services earnings to be approximately $100 million to $110 million. And for our multi-family business, we expect a loss of about $10 million. Turning to Lennar other, we expect a loss of about $20 million. However, remember that this excludes the impact of any potential mark-to-market adjustments to our public technology investments. Our Q1 corporate G&A should be about 2.6% of total revenues, and our charitable foundation contribution will be based on $1,000 per home delivered. We expect our Q1 tax rate to be approximately 24.5% and the weighted average share count should be approximately 266 million shares. So on a consolidated basis, these estimates should produce an EPS range of approximately $1.60 to $1.80 per share for the quarter. And since, as we turn to 2025, as we noticed, since market conditions are uncertain, we are only providing delivery guidance, we're targeting to deliver between 86,000 and 88,000 homes for the full year of 2025, including the Rausch Coleman acquisition. With that, let me turn it over to the operator. Operator [Operator instructions] Alan Ratner with Zelman & Associates. Alan Ratner -- Zelman and Associates -- Analyst Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for all the detail. Definitely a lot going on right now, so appreciate that. Stuart, I guess I'd love to just hear your thoughts on kind of the consumer and the drivers that impacted the demand during the quarter. Obviously, rates moved in the wrong direction, and I think it certainly makes sense compared to where you guys were back in September, why things were a bit weaker than expected. But, if we look at the absolute mortgage rate in the high-sixes, maybe hitting seven, nine in the quarter, it's not too dissimilar to what you were selling at in spring of 24' and a year ago. Yet it sounds like things were fairly meaningfully weaker from just an overall demand perspective. So, what do you attribute that to, is it seasonality? Is it the supply demand picture, given how many specs have been put on the ground, because it doesn't feel like things have changed that drastically in the economy to warrant a much softer picture at that type of rate environment? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Alan, I think it's a combination of factors. I think that the consumer, and particularly at the entry level. But even as you move up into the move up level, acquiring a down payment in today's inflated environment. What I mean by that is prices have gone up and the rate of inflation has come down, but that doesn't mean prices have come down. It's harder to accumulate a down payment, and it's harder to qualify for mortgage. I think that there is a combination of interest rates moving up, and moving down, and moving up, moving down. It's created a little bit of a hesitancy and people actually pulling the trigger. You have some seasonality sprinkled in here. There are number of factors that are going on and it's just become a more difficult environment to get the buyer to actually make the decision to purchase. As we came to the end of our third quarter, where interest rates were trending down, we didn't see the same responsiveness to rates coming down that we had seen in prior movements. And then moving from there into the fourth quarter, as interest rates first tick down and then moved up in the wake of the 50-basis point fed reduction. The consumer kind of it just felt like they felt a little surprised by that and it's just been more sidelined. So, I just say it's a combination of things that we have felt at the door at our Welcome Home Centers and in particular as rates started migrating up during the fourth quarter. It became harder and harder to navigate the waters of incentives and rate buy down and purchase price reductions, all of the components that we have as tools navigating those waters became a little trickier, and it took a little bit more to get the consumer over the fence. Alan Ratner -- Zelman and Associates -- Analyst Got it. I appreciate the additional color there. And then second just kind of on your overall pace versus price strategy, you've always kind of articulated margin and price being the lever to achieve the volume targets. I'm just curious as you think about 25% and the targets you put out there for closings growth, not too dissimilar from where you were three months ago even though the market seems to have shifted a bit lower. What are you thinking on the sensitivity there now that margins are kind of below where we at least for the time being below what you consider to be normalized. Is there a lower bound on margin or an upper bound on incentives that you're willing to go to achieve the volume targets that you've put out there right now? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer We have conviction here that steady state volume will help us rationalize costs, both at the land level and at the hard cost sticks and bricks level, as well as overhead over time. And so, the answer is we're going to adjust to market. We're going to maintain volume. Of course, there can be something that is so erratic that we might change our strategy, because it is outside the boundaries, but as it relates to the normalization of the market, the adjustment to a new normal and interest rates, or as it relates to affordability issues, just straight affordability. We're going to adjust to market conditions and maintain volume, and we're going to use that as a leverage point to rationalize both land and production costs. Operator Our next caller is Michael Rehaut with JPMorgan. Michael Rehaut -- Analyst First, a lot of questions. I'm sure we're going to hear about Millrose, shortly, but I'd love to just focus on the core business, which I think is really the focus on most of the clients that we speak to investors that we are speaking with today. Stuart, you mentioned a couple of times that, you are positioning the company from, in terms of keeping your finished spec kind of in line with historicals, kind of continuing to move volume that you are positioning yourselves to benefit from a normalized margin, when things stabilize. You also alluded to, I think Diane alluded to, your conviction that the first quarter should be the lowest in terms of the gross margin for the year. Trying to think about, what a normalized gross margin might mean over the next 12, 24 months. Relative to what you're seeing, what you've seen in the past year, what you're seeing in the first quarter. How should we think about, what a normalized margin means for Lennar, let's say once we get through this more bumpy period? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Mike, I think, it's hard to look out ahead, especially in what I would consider to be turbulent times. Maybe turbulence's too strong a word, but interest rates are moving around. There's a lot of change injected in the system overall. What exactly is normalized? I don't know what that number is. It's certainly north of where we are now. I think that the market is adjusting to a new normal, there is underlying everything a supply shortage and demand is building in the background just by population and household formation. What is a normalized margin? It's going to be higher than where we are right now, and it's going to climb as demand is activated by market forces, and that means enabled by interest rates, enabled by stabilized pricing either at the grocery store, the gas pump, or gas prices coming down. It's all of these things are going to work together. What we focused on is, we are going to price to market conditions, and that means as the market ebbs and flows, our margin will move up and down along with it, and we know that market conditions right now are difficult. There will be easier times ahead where margin will migrate back up and we'll be multiplying by a larger volume number. Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Mike, I would just add as you heard from all of us is, that our strategy really enables our approach to the supply chain to continue to find efficiencies and reduce cost there that will help the margin equation. Michael Rehaut -- Analyst I appreciate that both Stuart and Jon, thank you for that. I guess second question, I wanted to shift toward the top-line. Last quarter, and I think you reiterated this a few times perhaps now, you intend to grow volumes about 10% annually, and it's what you stated last quarter, for fiscal '25 and beyond. Your guidance now is 8% to 10%. It does though include the contribution of Rausch Coleman, which I think you said was about a 5% contribution to growth 4,000 units, if you close in the first quarter. So, it obviously implies organic growth kind of in that 3% to 5% range. I'm just wondering going forward, you had the only other competitor of yours of similar volume size to D.R. Horton talk about flat to up slight volume growth in fiscal '25, and a big part of that just due to the challenges of getting communities online. How should we think about organic growth from Lennar going forward? Is that still, do you kind of view that 10% goal that you stated as an all in number? Is there variability there? Is the organic growth perhaps a little bit less. Because it certainly seems like fiscal '25, might be below a normal or aspire to growth year at least on an organic basis for some builders. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Mike, the line between organic and inorganic has become a little bit more blurry. And the reason is that as we grow, we're adding communities. Sometimes we are adding communities through the acquisition of smaller builders, who have decided that an affiliation or a collaboration with us is a better avenue forward. And sometimes that's really just the acquisition of additional communities instead of buying one, we are buying four. And this is something that has got ongoing on a regular basis in different markets at different rates. So, it's kind of hard to decipher, where the line between organic and inorganic is. So, we're looking at basically that kind of a growth rate, as a combination between the two. With Rausch Coleman, we have a combination of some markets, where we're already embedded, where we are adding community count to an already existing rather robust operating system or platform and we have other markets, we are growing de novo into new markets working with the tremendous reputation that Rausch Coleman has and the high-quality people that come along with the acquisition. So even with Rausch Coleman the line between organic and inorganic, really begs the question of can we separate it out and how do we look at it? We're really looking at both organic and inorganic as being tied together with our growth strategy. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yes, Mike, I think I would just add that as you're saying with Rausch Coleman, while we are expanding into new markets, we're also growing market share and existing markets, and that's really the goal, because the greater we grow market share the more benefits we really achieve from that market. And I think what's really important to also remember is the way that we're structuring these, we'll call them the inorganic growth. And I think that's a really big differentiator. We're just buying whip, turning it quickly, adding profitability to the bottom line and at a high return. So I think you have to think about, sort of that M&A activity, if you will, in a very different light. It used to be very negative, it came with a lot of goodwill and things like that. But this is a different way to think about M&A and I think it is more akin to organic growth than you might be thinking about historically. Michael Rehaut -- Analyst I appreciate that Diane. And just to clarify for the first quarter, gross margins, that does not then as a result include any purchase accounting impact for Rausch Coleman, I guess not expected to be in the first quarter, but let's say in the second quarter, third quarter, is there any purchase accounting impact expected? Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yes, there'll be some purchase accounting impact in the second quarter if we were to close at the end of the first quarter. But I'd say like, think about it, if we're, and again, depending on when we close, if we estimate 4,000 deliveries over the second, third, and fourth quarter, you can see that the purchase accounting impact in that second quarter will not be material to margins overall. Operator Our next caller is Stephen Kim with Evercore ISI. Stephen Kim -- Analyst I want to try to clean up a little bit if I can, on the gross margin. Stuart, I think you indicated that the backlog has gross margins that are kind of running closer to 20%. And I think I heard you say that you sort of thought that the number of, or the percentage of closings that you would get in 1Q that you have not yet sold or had not yet sold at the end of November was about half. So then that makes it easy. That sort of implies that your 19% gross margin in the first quarter, that implies that the stuff you're going to be selling here, over the coming weeks, you're sort of thinking is maybe an 18% gross margin. I think you also indicated though that 1Q has sort of a catch up in sales going on, because you missed your 4Q sales. So that might sort of suggest that, if you're trying to figure out what a steady state gross margin is, that 18% is probably a little lower, because you're actually sort of overselling, if you will, a little bit to make up for 4Q. Just want to make sure I'm thinking about that right, or if there's some other adjustment that we need to be thinking about. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer I think you're doing a good job. That's pretty right on. And we'll have to see how the market actually unfolds and enables or not enables, activity at that level, but we're going to solve to activity. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yes, I think that's right, Stephen, that 20% margin, if you think about it. It has the impact of the increased incentive levels from Q4, which Jon really gave you some details on that. And I think if market conditions improve, there's upside to that. But we're trying to be really conservative right now because there just isn't a lot of visibility as we sit here in the middle of December. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer And let me just add and say, look, we are solving to volume. But what we are doing is we're working, while we solve to volume on rationalizing the cost structure, and whether it's on the land side or whether it's on the production hard cost side. Our relationships with our trade partners building predictable volume that they can count on and they know that we are not flinching enables us to rework some of the efficiencies in some of those numbers. We have continued to be able to either bring our cost down or at least hold them steady in a tough environment and we think that we will be able to make more progress rationalizing cost by giving consistent volume. So, there are some offsets in all of this that are important to the way that we are thinking about our business. Stephen Kim -- Analyst Yes, that's helpful, and I think I should also have mentioned that you also indicated that 1Q, has lower margins than sort of a full year. So that's also, yes, so 18 isn't exactly like sort of an annualized number anyway on top of being conservative. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Yes, and let me. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer And we have that field impact as well, Steve, which is not immature number. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer And let me say this. That I, do want to go back to the third quarter, where I detailed that our community count had fallen off. The bolstering of community count also helps alleviate some of the pressure at the community-by-community level. So, these things are going to work through and work out. We are confident in that, and we like the fact that, OK we are a little lower right now, but over time we are going to normalize and we are going to multiply by a bigger number. Stephen Kim -- Analyst Got you. OK, switching gears to volume, your closings guide is 86% to 88%, up about 10%. I guess my question is does that assume orders for the year noticeably above the closings range, or does it assume a meaningfully higher backlog turnover ratio for the year? Because I, think in order to hit that closings guide, you're going to need one or the other. You're going to need to have orders either higher than, that number or you're going to have to have backlog turnover ratio higher than it was last year. And so I'm kind of curious which is it? And if, you tell me if, it's orders, that orders are going to be higher. I just want to make sure that we're thinking right because that my model is sort of telling me, it's got to be like north of 20% order growth in 2Q and 3Q, including Rausch. And, if you're telling me, well no, it's probably a higher backlog turnover ratio. I'm going to ask, well then, well are you contemplating cycle time impacts for maybe a crackdown on undocumented workers. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Yes. So, you're not going to be happy with my answer. But I, think it's a little bit of both. And look, we are driving and getting more and more efficient across the platform. And what, I mean by that is on the orders, the new orders side, the focus and attention that we are bringing to the generation of sales. Whether it's through our digital marketing machine, or whether it's through our dynamic pricing mechanism, we are building efficiency through those programs, and so there will be some order growth embedded in this. But additionally the focus and attention that we have brought to cycle time, which enables that backlog conversion to accelerate the efficiencies that we're injecting in our business. I mean, if you listen to Jon's articulation, it's not just construction costs that are holding steady in a higher pressured environment, it's also cycle time coming down. Now, you raised the question of immigration and what happens with immigration policy, and that's a wild card out there, and we're all going to have to figure out how that kind of meshes together. But I will say as an overlay here, is that one of the things that we are doing is we're injecting predictability with our trade partners so that they understand that we are there for them and we're going to need them to be there for us. And that is a quid pro quo that kind of exists in the market. And we have been rock solid consistent in laying out the logistics and the predictability that enables them to be the best version of themselves. And even when the market says flinch, we're not flinching and that predictability is a value add. Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President I would just add to that, Steve that predictability comes with a real focus on simplification. So we have a greatly reduced skew count than we used to have, which enables the execution, which Stuart just described to truly happen as you work through both the labor force and the manufacturers. Stephen Kim -- Analyst So just so I'm clear, are you assuming any cycle time? It sounds like you're not assuming any cycle time impacts, because if you do have it affecting the market, it's going to affect other people, but not you, just so I'm clear, is that what you're sort of hoping? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer That's the two hunters with the bear chasing them and we're not quite that mercenary. We want all of our competitors to do well. But we are laser focused on our production, our cycle time, and we are solving too, the most consistency to be able to accomplish the things we're accomplishing. Now, are we assuming that there will be variability in here given an uncertain political environment? We are naturally thinking about that quite a bit at working with and talking to trade partners to look at eventualities. Are there clear answers at this point? There are not. And John was clear about that, but it's not something that we're asleep at the switch with. It's something that is very much a part of our thinking. Operator Our next caller is Trevor Allinson with Wolfe Research. Trevor Allinson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Stuart, I first wanted to follow up on some comments you just made talking about conversations with your suppliers and with the trades. Given 1Q gross margins are backed up pre pandemic levels. With your focus on growing volumes here, are you expecting to see some cost concessions maybe excluding any impacts from changes in policy, but are you expecting to see some cost concessions here in 2025 from both your trades and your suppliers? Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Yes, this is Jon. It's a continuous program of discussions with our supply chain to find efficiencies and bring costs down. We do expect that to continue. A big part of that is relative to our product strategy, our core product strategy, which we discussed before they just mentioned it gets to the details of skew reduction. But the biggest thing is consistent predictable volume enables us to have that discussion with our trade partners and have their margin come down just as our margin is coming down. Trevor Allinson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Got you. That makes a lot of sense. And then second, there's been a lot of talk in the industry about elevated completed inventory levels. Sounds like your completed inventory levels remain relatively normal. Can you just talk about your comfort levels with where your completed inventory levels are at in the current demand environment? And then perhaps expand that commentary to the completed inventory levels overall in markets. And if you feel in any of your markets, they've got more extended. Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Yes, that's a great question, Trevor. Our inventory as we came to the end of the year was within our range, but at the high end of our range, and we are very focused on maintaining an inventory level that is appropriate. So let me talk about appropriate. We recognize that build up in inventory, is the best way to really cast a dark cloud over your future. If we have too much inventory, it's going to constantly be a depressant on where pricing and margins can actually grow. So, we are laser-focused on keeping our inventory level within a range. Now, historically, we have trended closer to one home per community versus the two homes that we are at right now. But we have been within that range of one to two homes. We have actually migrated to a thinking process that given our land-light strategy, we are enabled to maybe carry just a little bit more than we have historically. And that really enables us to address the customer that comes in and needs a home now as opposed to one that's under production or to be under production. And therefore, we think that something closer to the two home per community range is, where we want to land, but we do not want to get above that. So, that's how we are thinking. That's what we're solving to. We're going to carefully maintain inventory, but we're going to be a little bit toward our historical higher side as a matter of strategy. And just to add to that Trevor, we're very focused on not just maintaining inventory levels, but the freshness of that inventory. So, we're very focused on not letting it age, and if you look at our inventory, about 80% of it is 90 days or fresher from an aging perspective. So, it's a big part of this overall focus of our operating platform. Operator Our next caller is Susan Maklari with Goldman Sachs. Susan Maklari -- Analyst Good morning, everyone, thanks for taking the question. My first question is going back to some of the focus on rationalizing the cost structure in there. Can you talk about where you are in terms of standardizing those product offerings? How much more you can get over the next several quarters in there? And how that will benefit both the margin structure over time, but then also just the cash generation of the business? Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President So, we've been hard at work at it. It's a standardized product offering, which we refer to as our core product. And in '24, it represented about 10% of our starts, and we expect that that's going to grow to about a third of our starts in 2025. So, we do think there is further rationalization that will be very positively received by our supply chain both labor and materials, as we create more and more consistency. But also efficiency with that consistency that will both help cost and cycle time. The bottom line, Susan, is that there's a tremendous amount of opportunity here that we've been laser focused on the migration from 10% to a third of our product migrating to core equates to a great deal of efficiency with which is not about renegotiating with our trades as much as it is about value engineering and really building efficiency both into the design of the home and the production of the home. And so, we think that over the next year we'll see a lot more core product, and a lot more reduction in cost as associated with that. Susan Maklari -- Analyst And then Stuart, one of the comments that you made was that, you're going to continue to focus on repurchasing the stock and shareholder returns, and that will obviously evolve as Millrose moves through the process. Understanding there's a lot that that can change in there. But can you talk to some of the key factors that you're watching for and how that could perhaps evolve as we do get Millrose out and we move into a newer model of the business? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Let's remember first of all that Millrose is the end of a process that has been ongoing for five years. So we have a tremendous amount of experience with our other land banking partners starting with essential housing and Angelo Gordon, where we have a tremendous program, an opportunity to continue to grow. Millrose is a next step. The biggest difference with Millrose is that it is a permanent capital vehicle as opposed to one where a group has to keep going out and raising the next round of capital. So there's something strategic about Millrose as we take a large part portion of land, our remaining land and move it into the system, we're going to see how capital flows, especially at the start-up of the Millrose endeavor as we go public, there will be a start-up process, and as we mature the engagement, which will dovetail with all of our other land banking relationships, as well as episodic programs where we're dealing with landowners and have rolling option programs as well. As we mature our engagement with now what will be a fully land light strategy, we will develop the confidence around how much of the capital that we're producing, the cash flow that we're producing actually goes to return to shareholders, either through dividend or through stock buyback, and as we're paying down debt as well, I'm not sure that that answers your question, but it's just a maturing process that we'll go through as Millrose goes public. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yes, Susan, I would add to that, as you remember what I said, the goal is to really have our net income, equal our cash flow. And I think 2025 is sort of a year where a lot is coming together, and we'll still be embarking on that journey of making sure that we're increasing shareholder returns through all the mechanisms of dividends and buybacks. But I think as you look on a longer term sustained basis, I think that we will get to the point where net income is pretty close to cash flow and we don't have a large maturity ladder from a debt standpoint. So by design that cash flow will be more heavily geared toward buybacks. Since, we were formally very focused on the debt reduction. So, I think that should give you sort of a trajectory of where we're going. What's important to us is to have a sustained program, and I think that we're taking a step another step in that direction. Susan Maklari -- Analyst OK, that's really helpful color. Thank you. Good luck with everything. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Susan, and why don't we take one last question? Operator Our next caller is John Lovallo with UBS. John Lovallo -- Analyst Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my questions as well. Maybe the first one on the spin. I'm just curious, why you decided to partner with an external manager in the Millrose deal. And then along the same lines, what do you sort of think of as the right comps. I mean, should we be looking at mortgage REITs. I mean, they do tend to trade at, call it a 20% discount to book value. So, I'm just curious, what you would consider to be good comps and why you use an external manager? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer So, John thanks for the question. I got Fred Rothman sitting right next to me, and Fred has done a tremendous amount of work on building the programming and the execution around Millrose. I'm just going to start by saying, we chose an external manager and we chose the external manager of Kennedy Lewis, because they've been a strong counterparty for us in this business. Angelo Gordon and we started it. Kennedy Lewis has been a participant along the way. And Fred, do you want to weigh in on the Kennedy Lewis relationship. Fred Rothman -- Chief Operating Officer Sure, we have a long strong history with Kennedy Lewis that has produced a very good working relationship, and using them as an outside manager here allows Millrose to get going from day one. We're going to be conveying and transferring large number of home sites and we need Millrose to be up and running to develop the internal platform and to develop the systems, they're already familiar with our hopper. So, on day one, Millrose will be very active up and running and be a strong partner for Lennar. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer And let me just add to that and say, we've been asked, why wouldn't you have done it with Angelo Gordon. And let me tell you, the relationship with Angelo Gordon is extremely strong and beneficial, but multiple pools of capital are going to benefit us and the industry for that matter as we go into the future. And so therefore we have strong participants that are familiar, as Fred said with the hopper. The way that we govern the overall oversight of purchasing land, developing land, financing land, and moving it through the system in orderly fashion. We have a lot of experience with the professionals at Kennedy Lewis already. They were a natural external manager. Why an external manager, it gives clear visibility on what the cost structure is. The cost structure is borne by the professional manager. A very clear fee, is it supports the payment of all overhead associated with the administration. It's a much more simple structure for the world to understand. And then you ask the question of what are going to be the comps. I think, we are going to leave that to the next couple of months as we take Millrose public. So, there is a little bit of wait and see and we are going to stay within the boundaries of what's in the S-11 right now. But we are very enthusiastic about this addition to the capital markets. And what it means for the future of the homebuilder as a manufacturer that benefits from just in time delivery of homesites. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer John, I just going to add to think about, one of the goals with Millrose was to have Millrose produce sustainable recurring cash flows and income. And I think about that, while it's not perfect, I think about that sort of compared to the returns that you're getting from a bond investment, for example. And so that, I think that that recurring sustainable component will be very important. And so as Stuart mentioned, having a very fixed fee structure against that recurring income and cash flow, I think will accomplish the goal that we're trying to, one of the goals that we're trying to accomplish. As you think about Millrose from an investment standpoint. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Fred, anything else you would add? Fred Rothman -- Chief Operating Officer Just the Kennedy Lewis has put the team together and just has a proven track record that is just going to make this a seamless transition for us on day one. And I think that's critical for the success of Millrose and the sustainable and future growth of Lennar. John Lovallo -- Analyst That's really helpful. And then just as a follow up, I just wanted to go back onto to an earlier question just to make sure I understand the strategy here. The 10% growth in delivery that target was out there pre-Rausch. You guys have maintained that at the high end, including Rausch. So I guess, the question is, if it were not for Rausch, would you have lowered that target? Or conversely, is Rausch just giving you sort of the opportunity to not push pace quite as hard in the existing communities and still get that same volume at perhaps a higher margin? Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Let me just add a little correction. We've been working on the Rausch deal long before, it became public. In our world, when we do deals, it is all about relationship and fit. And we have spent a tremendous amount of time working through not just the relationship, but a thoughtful negotiation on how things work best in bringing something together. So our 10% really didn't predate Rausch. We've been aware of and predisposed for this to be a part of our gross strategy in a very strategic part. If you look at the way we're thinking about growth strategy today, or the way we have been thinking about, it has been in part densifying some of the divisions that we already have in place. Some of them are already densified, but we've also been thinking about how we bring our brand to a broader geography. And so an acquisition component of entering new markets has been a thoughtful accelerant to the way that we've thought about growth. And the Rausch program has fit well within the boundaries of what we've been expecting of our own growth strategy. Now, once again, I'm going to say Fred has been the primary driver negotiator in and around the Rausch deal. Fred, would you add to that? Fred Rothman -- Chief Operating Officer Rausch also has a strong position in many of the markets we're not in. So we hit the ground running with Rausch as a No. 1 by market share in many of the markets we're not in. So we immediately will be able to capture the opportunities and the growth of being the No. 1 builder in a bunch of new markets accessing our ability combined with the Rausch Coleman excellent track record and access to land going forward. So really an exciting opportunity for both companies. Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer And at a lower price point, which is attractive in today's affordability challenge market. John Lovallo -- Analyst Right. OK. Thank you, guys. Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer OK, you're welcome. Well, I want to thank everyone for joining today. I know it's a bit of a turbulent ride, but we're pretty excited about our future. Short-term bumpy, long-term excited, and we look forward to reporting back at the end of our first quarter. Have a nice day everyone and happy holidays. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: David M. Collins -- Vice President and Corporate Controller Stuart A. Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Jon Jaffee -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Diane J. Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Alan Ratner -- Zelman and Associates -- Analyst Stuart Miller -- Executive Chair and Co-Chief Executive Officer Michael Rehaut -- Analyst Jon Jaffe -- Co-Chief Executive Officer and President Diane Bessette -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Kim -- Analyst Trevor Allinson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Susan Maklari -- Analyst John Lovallo -- Analyst Fred Rothman -- Chief Operating Officer More LEN analysis All earnings call transcripts

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 40-14 rout of the unraveling and undisciplined New York Jets on Sunday. The Bills put the game away by capitalizing on two Jets turnovers and scoring three touchdowns over a 5:01 span in the closing minutes of the third quarter. Buffalo’s defense forced three takeaways overall and sacked Aaron Rodgers four times, including a 2-yard loss for a safety in the second quarter. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Nvidia has found itself entangled in a series of challenges recently, from trouble with their Blackwell GPU shipments to navigating complex regulatory landscapes in China. As these issues simmer, the tech giant’s stock movement remains stagnant over the past six months, though it has enjoyed a remarkable 174% rise in value this year. But the burning question is: when will Nvidia witness its next market rally? Experts suggest that forecasting Nvidia’s next surge isn’t straightforward. Market analysts highlight the wisdom in focusing on Nvidia’s long-term potential rather than attempting to time market fluctuations. Future catalysts could be the company’s upcoming earnings report or the advent of groundbreaking AI technologies that drive further demand for Nvidia GPUs. Conversely, if major tech companies curtail spending, it could temper Nvidia’s momentum. Reflecting on history, the 2021 cryptocurrency boom saw Nvidia’s GPUs in high demand, leading to skyrocketing prices and revenues. However, when that demand faded, the market adjusted, causing a substantial correction. The same scenario could materialize with AI: when the hype diminishes, current hardware may suffice, potentially precipitating a market downturn. Nevertheless, Nvidia’s strategic future could echo Apple’s evolution beyond the iPhone, suggesting a pivot towards services like cloud computing. While speculative, such a move could secure Nvidia’s long-term growth as it seeks to capitalize on its existing GPU ecosystem. Investors betting on Nvidia’s continued innovation may find reassurance in the company’s enduring capacity to adapt and thrive, promoting optimism amid challenges. Nvidia remains a popular choice among hedge funds, ranking fifth among the 31 most favored stocks. With 193 hedge fund portfolios holding positions in Nvidia, expectations ride high for the firm’s ability to innovate beyond its current obstacles. Nvidia’s Path Forward: Charting New Growth Amid Challenges Nvidia, a leading player in the tech industry, is currently facing multiple challenges, notably with its Blackwell GPU shipments and regulatory issues in China. Yet, despite these hurdles, the company has achieved an impressive 174% rise in stock value this year. The critical question remains: When will Nvidia experience its next market upsurge? Key Predictions and Trends Forecasting Nvidia’s next big leap isn’t a straightforward task. Analysts emphasize the importance of focusing on Nvidia’s long-term growth potential rather than trying to predict short-term market movements. Crucial future catalysts could include the company’s earnings reports or revolutionary advances in artificial intelligence that could drive up GPU demand. Conversely, if major tech players decide to scale back their spending, it might slow Nvidia’s progress. Market Analysis A retrospective view offers valuable insights. For instance, the 2021 cryptocurrency boom saw Nvidia’s GPUs in high demand, dramatically boosting prices and revenues. However, as the demand stabilized, a market correction ensued. A similar scenario could unfold with AI, where once the initial excitement wanes, existing hardware may meet demand, potentially leading to another market adjustment. Future Innovations and Strategies Looking ahead, Nvidia could emulate companies like Apple, which have successfully diversified beyond their initial offerings. A shift towards services such as cloud computing could potentially secure long-term growth for Nvidia, leveraging its existing GPU ecosystem. While currently speculative, such strategic pivots could position Nvidia for sustained success, appealing to investors who value ongoing innovation. Investment Insights Nvidia continues to be a favorite among hedge funds, ranking fifth among the 31 most popular stocks. With 193 hedge fund portfolios investing in Nvidia, there is a strong underpinning of confidence in the firm’s ability to overcome current challenges and innovate for future growth. For more information on Nvidia’s diverse solutions and technological advancements, visit Nvidia . As the company navigates its challenges and looks towards the future, investors and analysts alike remain optimistic about its potential to innovate and sustain growth in the evolving tech landscape.Mayor Ken Sim says abolition of elected park board will mean $70M in savings

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Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency of anyone to hold the office, and one of the most active. Here is a look back at his life. 1924 — Jimmy Carter was born on Oct. 1 to Earl and Lillian Carter in the small town of Plains, Georgia. 1928 — Earl Carter bought a 350-acre farm 3 miles from Plains in the tiny community of Archery. The Carter family lived in a house on the farm without running water or electricity. 1941 — He graduated from Plains High School and enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus. 1942 — He transferred to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. 1943 — Carter’s boyhood dream of being in the Navy becomes a reality as he is appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. 1946 — He received his naval commission and on July 7 married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia. 1946-1952 — Carter’s three sons are born, Jack in 1947, Chip in 1950 and Jeff in 1952. 1962-66 — Carter is elected to the Georgia State Senate and serves two terms. 1953 — Carter’s father died and he cut his naval career short to save the family farm. Due to a limited income, Jimmy, Rosalynn and their three sons moved into Public Housing Apartment 9A in Plains. 1966 — He ran for governor, but lost. 1967 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s fourth child, Amy, is born. 1971 — He ran for governor again and won the election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12. 1974 — Carter announced his candidacy for president. 1976 — Carter was elected 39th president on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Gerald Ford. Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter embraces his wife Rosalynn after receiving the final news of his victory in the national general election, November 2, 1976. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) New-elected President Jimmy Carter gives a press conference after being elected 39th President of the United States, on November 05, 1976 in Plains, Georgia. (Photo by GENE FORTE / CONSOLIDATED NEWS PICTURES / AFP) (Photo by GENE FORTE/CONSOLIDATED NEWS PICTURES/AFP via Getty Images) Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter hold up signs during a rally on may 15, 1976 in New York. – Carter was elected on December 21, 1976 39th President of the United States, 51% voice against 48% for incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford. (Photo by CONSOLIDATED NEWS / AFP) (Photo by -/CONSOLIDATED NEWS/AFP via Getty Images) Chief Justice Warren Burger administers the oath of office to Jimmy Carter (R), flanked by his wife Rosalynn, as the 39th President of the United Sates on January 20, 1977. (Photo by CONSOLIDATED NEWS / AFP) (Photo by -/CONSOLIDATED NEWS/AFP via Getty Images) Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter embraces his wife Rosalynn after receiving the final news of his victory in the national general election, November 2, 1976. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 1978 — U.S. and the Peoples’ Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations. President Carter negotiates and mediates an accord between Egypt and Israel at Camp David. 1979 — The Department of Education is formed. Iranian radicals overrun the U.S. Embassy and seize American hostages. The Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty is signed. 1980 — On March 21, Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled in Moscow. A rescue attempt to get American hostages out of Iran is unsuccessful. Carter was defeated in his bid for a second term as president by Ronald Reagan in November. 1981 — President Carter continues to negotiate the release of the American hostages in Iran. Minutes before his term as president is over, the hostages are released. 1982 — Carter became a distinguished professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and founded The Carter Center. The nonpartisan and nonprofit center addresses national and international issues of public policy. 1984 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes, until 2020. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains from the mid-’80s until 2020. 2002 — Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 2015 — Carter announced in August he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain. 2016 — He said in March that he no longer needed cancer treatment. 2024 — Carter dies at 100 years old. Sources: Cartercenter.org, Plains Historical Preservation Trust, The Associated Press; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Navy; WhiteHouse.gov, Gallup

Presidency is often associated with lavish homes, in-house staff, and expensive convoy vehicles, but it's not always the case. The "poorest ever president" opted for a 1987 car during his time in office, gave most of his money to charity , and earned around £500 a month. Living off a dirt road outside the capital guarded by his three-legged dog and two police officers, Jose Mujicawas president of Uruguay from 2010-2015. He turned down the lavish presidential palace to stay in his wife’s humble farmhouse. Mujica's choice to work the land while running the country sets a unique tone among presidents, reflecting his beliefs about consumerism and the meaning of real wealth. He gave roughly 90% of his salary, equivalent to $12,000 (£7,500), to less affluent communities and entrepreneurs, meaning he earned around the average Uruguayan income of $775 (£485) a month while he was in office. "I've lived like this most of my life, I can live well with what I have," he told the BBC . In 2010, his annual mandatory personal wealth declaration amounted to the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle, $1,800 (£1,100). It reached $215,000 (£135,000) this year, after adding half of his wife's assets, including land, tractors and a house, which is about a third of the declared figure by his predecessor, Tabare Vasquez. He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail after being part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group, in the 1960s and 1970s. He was freed in 1985 after time in jail often spent in isolation as Uruguay returned to democracy, and then elected in 2009. Now, his outlook on life shaped by his experiences raises many questions about modern day consumerism. He shared his thoughts at the Rio+20 summit in June this year: "We've been talking all afternoon about sustainable development. To get the masses out of poverty. "But what are we thinking? Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left? "Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet." He told the BBC : "I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more."Timeline: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024Matt Gaetz says he won't return to Congress next year after withdrawing name for attorney general