Shares of D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), the largest U.S. home builder, were plunging in premarket after the company reported a large second quarter loss this morning. Its quarterly numbers were dragged down by the slumping housing market which forced the homebuilder to take hefty charges to write down the value of its inventory.The company reported a loss of $1.31 billion, or $4.14 per share . The income figures were definitely nothing to cheer about. During its second quarter last year, the company had a profit of $51.7 million, or 16 cents per share, but that number was slashed this quarter as the homebuilder took pretax write-down charges of $834.1 million.
Wall Street analysts expected the company to have a quarterly loss of "only" 39 cents per share. So with the actual numbers, D.R. Horton is looking for a pretty bad day in today's session.
Looking at the quarter's revenue figures, we see a year-over-year plunge of 40%, dropping to $1.62 billion from $2.62 billion. During this period, D.R. Horton saw its home sales decline 31.4%, while net orders plunged 24.6%. Analysts, on average, forecast revenue of $1.36 billion in the second-quarter, according to Thomson Financial.
The company had a pretty difficult 2007, as the homebuilder struggled in the current financial environment, but it has shown some signs of improvement this year. However, with today's weak earnings figures D.R. Horton disappointed investors who pushed shares of the company down 7.64% in pre-market trading.
Eliza Popescu is a financial writer for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.
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