Last time around, I was bearish on Lennar (LEN). This was following the company's third-quarter report. Well, now we've got the fourth-quarter report to consider. Should I change my opinion?

You know, I feel like I should. Yesterday's price action was somewhat compelling. The stock experienced an increase in value of 7%. The closing price was $20.24, not too far away from the 52-week high of $21.79. The 52-week low for the stock is $11.93, so the shares are comfortably above that level.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) announced Tuesday that its fourth-quarter loss checked in at $1.68 per share ($132.1 million). While these results were better than a year ago when the company reported a loss of $3.21 per share ($250.8 million), the homebuilder fell short of the consensus estimate of a loss of 91 cents per share. Quarterly revenue checked in at $353 million, which is far worse than the $437.4 million a year earlier. The amount of contracts for homes fell 13%, coming in at 1,078 homes.

If you want to talk pain, talk to investors who own D.R. Horton (DHI). They were feeling quite miserable today. With a little over an hour to go before the market closes up shop, shares of the homebuilder were off by 5.7% to $11.48 as the market digested the latest quarterly report. Strong volume backed the trade.

The 52-week low for the stock is $9.41 while the 52-week high is $15.44. The one-year chart can be interpreted in a couple different ways (such is the limitation of technical analysis). While the big plunge in the middle cannot be ignored, the sideways trading aspect could be indicative that the shares are trying to find a level of support.

If you check out the stats at KB Home's (KBH) quote page, you'll notice that it's been doing poorly for a long time, until recently, when, over the last month, it decided to bounce strongly off the 52-week low of $9.43. Today, with about three hours to go before the end of the session, it is higher by almost 3.8% to $12.15 on the back of an earnings report.

Indeed, the chart shows what I'm talking about. And you have to wonder if the strength in the homebuilder will continue. There is one problem: although volume does stand a chance of ultimately going above the average, at the time of this writing, it isn't too impressive.

Homebuilder Lennar (LEN) had a great session on Monday. It closed at a price of $15.14, which represents a gain of over 8%. Volume was quite active, implying conviction in the move.

The one-year chart appears to be a volatile one, but it's in the context of a narrow range. The 52-week low is $11.56, and the 52-week high is $21.79. Does the stock have what it takes to break out of recent resistance levels? Can we infer positive things from yesterday's price change?

After the closing bell sounded Monday, Beazer Homes USA (BZH) reported second-quarter earnings.

The homebuilder recorded a second-quarter profit of 10 cents per diluted share, which includes noncash pretax charges of $10.2 million for inventory impairments. Not a bad quarter when compared to the year-earlier loss of $2.81 per share. Beazer's total revenue checked in at $198.2 million, up from $186.6 million in last year's second quarter.

KB Home (KBH) reported first-quarter earnings Tuesday morning. The homebuilder said its loss came in at 71 cents per share. A year ago, KBH lost 75 cents per share. While the quarterly loss was less than last year's, it was larger than the Street's expected loss of 42 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue fell to $264 million from $307.4 million a year ago. Not only was revenue worse than a year ago, but it also missed expectations for revenue of $277 million.

Shares of Lennar Corp. (LEN) surged Thursday after the Miami-based homebuilder reported a surprise profit for the fourth-quarter of 2009, its first in two years.

For the three months that ended in November, Lennar posted earnings of $0.19 per share, compared with a year-ago loss of $5.12 a share. Fourth quarter results included $1.34 per share related to the reduction of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance primarily due to a NOL carryback, offset by a $0.58 per share charge related to valuation adjustments and other writeoffs, and a $0.31 per share charge related to valuation adjustments to land the builder intends to sell or has sold to third parties.

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.