KB Home on Wednesday said its first-quarter profit climbed 42 percent over the prior year, with revenue soaring amid sales of higher-priced homes. The company also maintained its outlook for the year.

Shares of the L.A.-based homebuilder, which released its results after the market closed, were up more than 2.2 percent to $65.99 in after-hours trading.

KB Home reported fourth-quarter net income of $174.5 million ($2.02 per share), compared with $122.7 million ($1.41) for the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 34 percent to $2.19 billion from $1.64 billion in the year-prior period.

Analysts had expected per share earnings of $1.96 on revenues of $2.17 billion.

The revenue jump was driven by a 15-percent rise in unit deliveries to 7,905. The average selling price of the company’s homes increased 17 percent to $276,200 in the first quarter, up from $236,300 in the year-prior quarter.

KB ended the quarter with 26,536 homes under contract and awaiting construction, up 14 percent. The value of those homes rose 25 percent to $7.24 billion. Each of the company’s geographic regions generated a year-over-year increase in backlog value.

KB Home reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance of $11.25 per share, which represents an 18 percent increase over its earnings in 2005.