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.

Continue reading Hovnanian's Q1 shows an improvement

Hovnanian's Q1 shows an improvement originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Pending home sales rise in December, according to NAR

Pending home sales rise in December, according to NAR originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Horton doesn't get it

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Horton doesn't get it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading SmartMoney sees homebuilders poised for a nice recovery

SmartMoney sees homebuilders poised for a nice recovery originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 May 2008 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading D.R. Horton (DHI) swings to 2Q loss on hefty charges

D.R. Horton (DHI) swings to 2Q loss on hefty charges originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 May 2008 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

D. R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE: DHI), the largest homebuilder in the U.S., closed at $14.76.

DHI January 15 calls traded 191 times on transaction volume of 10,428 contracts, above its open interest of 6,097 contracts. DHI January option implied volatility of 65 is above its 26-week average of 52 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: D. R. Horton volatility elevated on heavy January call volume originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The housing index just can't rally for a minute. The thing's amazing. The stress of the system is so clearly manifested by this that I have to wonder if the Fed wants this index lower.

The fact that the Fed's speakers never mention things like this index and the homebuilders makes me wonder if this group is actually what the Fed wants to put out of business. I wonder if the Fed thinks that Pulte (NYSE: PHM) (Cramer's Take) and Horton (NYSE: DHI) (Cramer's Take) and Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (Cramer's Take) and Standard Pacific (NYSE: SPF) (Cramer's Take) and Centex (NYSE: CTX) (Cramer's Take) need to go bankrupt before the Fed can ease any more.

Many of these firms lent money recklessly. Are the Fed heads thinking these companies need to pay like the New Centurys and the NovaStars (NYSE: NFI) (Cramer's Take) did? (Are the feds, by the way, thinking that this GMAC company has to go because that was a huge provider of crummy mortgages?)

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Belly-up builder would tip the scales

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Belly-up builder would tip the scales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cancellations of new homes continue to surge and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), the nation's largest home builder, reported a 39% drop in fiscal fourth-quarter net orders, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal today [subscription required]. At the end of the quarter on September 30, D.R. Horton said it had orders for 6,374 homes worth $1.31 billion. Last year for the same quarter, orders totaled 10,430 worth $2.53 billion. The cancellation rate was also up over the rate in the third quarter. Third quarter cancellation rate was 38% and it was 48% in the fourth quarter.

Chairman Donald R. Horton told the Journal that market conditions "declined" and inventories are high. He said, "Buyers continued to approach the home buying decision cautiously. We expect the housing environment to remain challenging."

Pre-market trading in the stock shows a 2.43% drop over yesterday's closing price of $13.58 to $13.25. Expect the drop to continue as the news hits the markets today. Clearly there is no light at the end of the tunnel yet for home builders.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage

Orders drop by 39% at D.R. Horton, stock declining originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are times when Wall Street, to borrow a phrase, takes "two steps forward and one step back."

Then there are times when the Street simply stands, and waits for the events on the ground to clarify the financial landscape.

And that was the case Tuesday, as Monday's rally faded into Tuesday's 140-point Dow sell-off. And one reason was the subprime issue in general, which seems to offer a data point daily regarding the sector's health, and its impact on the housing sector, and the economy.

Tuesday's data point was American Home Mortgage (NYSE: AHM), which dropped more than 80% to about $1.00 per share from its recent $10.50 per share after the company indicated it is unable to borrow money under its banks lines and is looking at ways to raise money, including "the orderly liquidation of assets."

Continue reading AHM provides a data point, and Wall Street awaits more...

AHM provides a data point, and Wall Street awaits more... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today the stock market is getting slammed, with the Dow down over 360 points. In my view, that's because many of the bad things that investors have been worrying about for years are all happening at the same time:

• Spiking oil prices -- a barrel of crude oil was up $1.12 at $77.
• Tanking housing market. Disappointing results from home builders including Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM) and D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) -- squeezed by a sluggish environment from home sales and continued defaults in subprime loans -- weighed heavily on the market.
• Drying up of private equity financing -- as I posted earlier today.

Over the last few weeks, these worries have been masked by an onslaught of big mergers. But the mergers aren't happening today. Moreover, if the credit markets decide to turn their back on future deals, the only thing to stop the market from freefalling would be big companies exceeding earnings expectations.

What should you do? Probably nothing if you're in it for the long term, eventually all the bad news will come out and there will be a buying opportunity. But not yet.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.

Market tanks: Oil, housing, and credit crunch to blame originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

News flash! Citigroup (finally) downgrades housing stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rumors, scandals and investigations at Beazer originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Patience may reward prospective home buyers

Patience may reward prospective home buyers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

2007 will suck, all 12 months? So says DR Horton CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: OSI Restaurant Partners (OSI), D.R. Horton (DHI) and Microsoft (MSFT) top today's list of downgrades.

• OSI Restaurant Partners, Inc. (NYSE:OSI) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Oppenheimer.
• The firm believes the $40 bid is fair and the risk/reward of waiting for a deal outweighs the potential modest increases of other bids. D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Merrill Lynch. They expect 2007's outlook to be a negative catalyst for the homebuilder.
• Bank of America resumed coverage of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) with a Neutral, below their previous rating of Buy. They believe Microsoft's core earnings drivers are not all Vista-related and that given the company's valuation, sees few near-term catalysts to drive shares higher.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• C.E. Unterberg downgraded Netease.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) to Market Perform from Buy, citing a lack of near-term growth drivers after reporting weak Q3 results.
• Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) was downgraded to Sell from Buy at Merrill Lynch also following the company's Q3 results.
• Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) was downgraded at A.G. Edwards to Hold from Buy. The firm said shares are trading based on a sale of the company. They believe downside risk is valued at $26-$29 with no sale and upside as much as $40 a share if the company was sold.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst downgrades 11-7-06: Microsoft, D.R. Horton, OSI downgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.