The housing market got two pieces of bad news Friday. The first being weaker-than-expected earnings for KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and the second being a less-than-expected rise in new home sales last month.

First, the good news. New home sales did rise last month. In the current economic environment, that by itself is good news. Unfortunately the rise was less than analysts had been expecting to see.

Shares of California-based homebuilder KB Home (NYSE: KBH) sold off Friday morning after the company failed to meet analyst estimates for its third quarter.

As we noted in our earnings preview, analysts were expecting to see the company show a loss of 56 cents per share for its third quarter, but the company failed to hit that number, posting an actual loss of a much worse 87 cents per share.

California based home builder KB Home (NYSE: KBH) will have its turn to impress Wall Street Friday morning when it reports its third quarter earnings numbers.

The last time that KB Home reported earnings was back on June 26 when it missed analyst estimates miserably. Analysts had been expecting to see the company show a loss of 64 cents per share for its second quarter, but the actual earning were much worse, with a loss of $1.03.

Shares of home-builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) fell sharply in trading Thursday, a day after the company reported a bigger loss than Wall Street had anticipated. By early afternoon, shares of the New Jersey-based company had fallen more than 13% to just over $4 a share.

In reporting its fiscal third quarter earnings Wednesday, Hovnanian said it lost $168.9 million, or $2.16 a share, in the three months ending July 31. That compares with a loss of $202.5 million, or $2.67 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell 45% to $387.1 million. The company noted its latest quarterly results included $105.7 million in pretax charges to reflect the declining value of land and other assets.

Lennar (NYSE: LEN) has had one of the most impressive rebounds of all the home builders. The stock has been up as much as 340% since bottoming last November.

Wall Street's current consensus for Lennar's earnings this year is a loss of $2.88. In my opinion, that's too low. I think Lennar will have little trouble surprising Wall Street analysts later this year.

Lennar is a good momentum buy.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was hit incredibly hard by the housing bust. The stock fell from $82 to just $7 per share. We haven't seen shakeouts like that since the tech bust.

Unlike some of the other home builders, KBH probably hit bottom early. The company's loss from last year wasn't as bad as its loss from 2007, and that's a good sign.

What I also like about KB Home is that the stock's volatility has calmed down, which is often the result of heavy institutional buying.

D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) saw its earnings-per-share plunge from a profit of $3.90 in 2006 to a staggering loss of $8.34 last year. Fortunately, the worst is behind us. This year D.R. Horton will probably lose about $1 per share.

I don't like to see any loss, but this is a huge improvement. In fact, I think there's even a good chance D.R. Horton could start posting some earnings gains by next year.

D.R. Horton is also a buy.

Next: Home builder stock #3

NVR (NYSE: NVR) is probably the healthiest of all the major home builders. In fact, the company hasn't taken a single annual loss yet. The company reported a quarterly loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, but all of the other quarters have recorded a profit.

Even though NVR is a fairly small company (market value of nearly $4 billion), the stock carries a very high price. The shares are currently over $660 a piece, which is even higher than Google.

The past few years haven't been what you might call a happy time for shares of home building stocks. Consider that the Homebuilders Exchange-Traded Fund (NYSE: XHB) plunged from $40 per share in early 2007 to just $8 per share earlier this year.

Since March, however, things have improved. There are signs that the housing market is getting back on its feet -- or at least, declining less slowly. Existing home sales recently registered their biggest gain in more than a decade. Seasonally-adjusted single-family building permits are up 27% since bottoming in March, while single-family housing starts have increased five straight months and are up 36% since March.

Last week's Fed Beige Book report and GDP numbers suggested that the economy may be stabilizing, and this coming week will bring plenty of economic data to confirm or deny that suggestion. On the schedule are consumer credit, construction spending, factory orders, and pending home sales for June, the employment situation, the Import Price Index, and new motor vehicle sales for July, as well as the ISM Manufacturing and Non-manufacturing Indexes for July.

The week will also bring quarterly reports from home builders Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH), D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), and Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM). Yet again, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect all three to have narrowed their losses in the most recent quarter. However, they've all tended to post deeper-than-expected losses in recent quarters as well. Analysts also expect to see their revenue down 45% or more for the past quarter. They forecast long-term EPS growth of 7% or more, but none of these homebuilders has a First Call consensus buy recommendation, not surprisingly. Short interest is falling off for Beazer and D.R. Horton, and D.R. Horton and Pulte have been reporting positive cash flow from operations, but all three of them said they had more long-term debt than cash in hand last time around. Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) is likewise expected to report that it narrowed its second-quarter loss.

We have all been waiting to hear news that the housing market has rebounded, and we got a little indication that things were improving today as homebuilder sentiment rose this month to its highest level since September.

According to the National Association of Home Builders its index of builder confidence jumped two points in July to 17. This is the first time the index has hit 17 since last September.

This is good news! The Commerce Department reported that housing starts soared 17% in May. Housing starts increased to 532,000 from 454,000 the prior month. Projections were for an increase to only 485,000.

Here are the supporting numbers:

• Permits rose to 518,000, up from 498,000. Forecasts were for 508,000.
• Single family homes rose 7.5% to 401,000, the third straight monthly gain.

Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), a home builder whose related companies include Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN), and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), reported Q2 results on Tuesday after the bell. The company reported a loss of $1.50 per share (the results included a gain related to debt extinguishment). That unfortunately did not meet analyst expectations according to Trey Thoelcke's earnings preview. Analysts were looking for a loss of $1.26 per share.

However, things do look better. Last year at this time, the loss recorded by Hovnanian was a whopping $5.29 per share. Revenues, however, plummeted to $398 million from over $770 million. Analysts were expecting only $348 million according to the preview.

The nation's fifth largest home builder, KB Home (NYSE: KBH), had its chance to impress Wall Street this morning when it reported first quarter earnings, and it did not disappoint, easily beating out analyst estimates.

As we discussed in our earnings preview, the company had been expected to show a net loss of 81 cents for the quarter. The actual loss for the quarter was less than expected, with a reported loss of only 75 cents per share.

One of the programs which may come with the new economic stimulus package is a big tax credit for people who buy new homes. It would help potential buyers across almost every income class, which is not what was being contemplated a few days ago. According to Bloomberg, "By replacing a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers earning less than $150,000 with a $15,000 break for all income groups as part of the economic stimulus package, senators effectively are encouraging purchases by higher-income households with a reduced risk of default."

Last week, Moody's said it was reviewing debt ratings on four home builders, including Beazer (NYSE: BZH) and Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV), for downgrades. That did not do the shareholder in the companies any favors.