NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of D.R. Horton (DHI) - Get Report , the largest homebuilder in the United States by volume sold, are trending more than 5% higher Monday after the company said that its fiscal first-quarter revenue surged 37% from a year earlier.

The stock is trading at about $24.32, up 5.28% from Friday's close of $23.10. The shares are down about 4% year to date, trailing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (down 0.84%) and the S&P 500 (down 0.34%).

But that is about to change.

Ahead of the report, there were concerns that the Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which competes with Lennar (LEN) - Get Report and Meritage Homes (MTH) - Get Report , would suffer due to weaker-than-expected home sales. This is because Lennar recently disappointed investors with its results.

But the number of homes D.R. Horton that sold in the fiscal first quarter climbed 29% to 7,973, the company said.

Analysts were looking for D.R. Horton to post a 25% jump in revenue, reaching $1.67 billion. The company managed to exceed that total by 57 percentage points, posting fourth-quarter revenue of $2.24 billion, topping last year's mark of $1.63 billion.

The company also beat on earnings expectations, posting first fiscal quarter net income of $142.5 million, or 39 cents a share, up 15% and 8% year over year, respectively. Last year, the company earned $123.2 million or 36 cents a share.

As with its revenue projections, analysts were skeptical that D.R. Horton would reach these numbers, calling for a 3% year-over-year profit drop. The consensus was 35 cents a share, and that number was down from where it was at the beginning of the quarter at 37 cents a share.

With such a strong quarter and the company showing no signs of slowing down, analysts will have to revise forward estimates for the fiscal year ending in September, which stand at $1.81 a share on revenue of $9.97 billion.

"Our fiscal 2015 is off to a great start, highlighted by $220.7 million of pretax income, on $2.3 billion of revenue. Our position as the largest and most geographically diverse homebuilder provides a strong platform for us to compete for new home sales," said Chairman Donald R. Horton.

He cited his company's year-over-year increases in the value of its net sales orders, home sales revenue and sales order backlog, which are up 40%, 37% and 29%, respectively.

The sales order backlog is a huge catalyst.

The 29% increase points to a value of $2.7 billion, the company said.

This means that D.R. Horton expects at least a 21% jump in home sales volumes to 9,285 units.

With growth accelerating at a higher-than-expected rate, investors should consider buying shares of D.R. Horton, which has an average analyst 12-month price target of $26. From Friday's close of $23.10 that implies gains of 12.5%.

In addition, the company pays a yield of 1.08%, which is likely to increase due to higher profits.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.