Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) is scheduled to take the earnings stage after Wednesday's closing bell, with Wall Street expecting the homebuilder to report a fiscal third-quarter loss of 52 cents per share. This would mark a notable improvement over Hovnanian's year-ago loss of $2.16 per share, but there's no guarantee the company can match analysts' expectations. During the past four quarters, Hovnanian has fallen short of consensus earnings estimates on two occasions.

Accordingly, speculators have been loading up on bearish bets as Hovnanian's quarterly report approaches. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) reports that traders have bought to open 4.64 puts for every call on HOV during the past 10 days, revealing a strong bias toward pessimistically oriented options.

Continue reading Puts Popular Ahead of Earnings from Hovnanian Enterprises

Puts Popular Ahead of Earnings from Hovnanian Enterprises originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV) announced Monday morning that it will sell up to $775 million (WSJ subscription required) of seven-year notes in order to fund its previously reported tender offer for up to $759.3 million in debt. The struggling homebuilder also reported that $877 million of the notes were tendered by the early deadline on Friday. As a result, Hovnanian reduced the maximum amount of unsecured notes it will buy from $130 million to $100 million.

Last week, a Wall Street Journal article noted that Hovnanian is "hobbled" by its debt, even as the rest of the industry is ready to buy up land at a bargain. As of July 31, Hovnanian's net debt accounted for 109% of total capital, compared to an average of 26% for the dozen major homebuilders tracked by research firm Zelman & Associates.

Continue reading Debt-laden Hovnanian plans massive note sale to fund tender offer

Debt-laden Hovnanian plans massive note sale to fund tender offer originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares in Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) struggled to hold onto ground gained early in the trading session, a day after the luxury home-builder reported a much larger quarterly loss. Shares rallied shortly after the morning bell on comments from Toll on Thursday that it sees the U.S. housing market beginning to stabilize.

Trading volume hit a peak just before 10 a.m. ET when 95,000 shares traded hands. But a new survey showing a decline in consumer confidence helped push trading volume lower and the stock dipped into negative territory before resuming positive gains.

Continue reading Toll Brothers shares rise as overall market slips

Toll Brothers shares rise as overall market slips originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:40:00 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.

Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) is a major U.S. homebuilder. The firm designs and constructs single-family detached homes, attached townhomes and condominiums, mid-rise and high-rise condominiums, urban infill, and active adult homes. It targets first-time buyers, move-up buyers, luxury buyers, active adult buyers, and empty nesters. The company operates in 19 states, primarily along the East Coast and in the Midwest, California, and Texas. Hovnanian also offers mortgage financing and title services.

Investors were relieved last month, when the company reported a Q1 loss of $2.07 per share and revenues of $1.09 billion. On average, the Street had been looking for a loss of $1.96 per share and revenues of $911.4 million. Management admitted that the housing market remains challenging, but it continued to project positive cash flow from operations in excess of $100 million for FY08. Fitch Ratings subsequently upgraded its view of the homebuilder's revolving credit facility, saying the recovery prospects were "outstanding." The change to "BB-/RR1" from "B-/RR4" came, after Hovnanian reduced its credit facility from $1.2 billion to $900 million.

Continue reading Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV): Shares cycle through positive trading channel

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV): Shares cycle through positive trading channel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading When will the homebuilders' misery end?

When will the homebuilders' misery end? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With his popularity at an all time low and the very real prospect of the Democrats taking back control of the White House in 2008, President Bush is throwing a lifeline to subprime mortgage holders who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.

The plan would allow homeowners who are 90 days behind in their mortgages to refinance their debt through loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a move that will help about 80,000 households. Homeowners also would be able to avoid taxes on forgiven debt under a temporary change Bush is proposing. The President also will call for Congress to raise FHA loan limits to $417,000 in some expensive markets. Interestingly, Bush is rejecting calls to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase the total value of the mortgages they hold in their portfolio.

Before people talk about the return of compassionate conservatism, it's important to remember that many subprime mortgage holders are speculators or people who bought second or third homes. Nonetheless, the administration had to do something to help people who were hoodwinked by sleazy brokers into mortgages that they couldn't afford.

In a televised address, Bush like Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed that it isn't government's role to bail out speculators. He also argued that the economy "remains strong enough to weather any turbulance."

Regardless, investors took these reports as a positive sign, sending shares of financial stocks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC) and Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC) higher. Homebuilders, including Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: HOV), Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) and Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH) all gave back their gains from earlier today after the speech.

Something has to be done to help the real victims of this crisis, though I'm not sure whether these moves will be enough to address the subprime problem. The government needs to be sure that it's helping the people who deserve to be helped.

President Bush plans to bail out subprime mortgage holders originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:58:00 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.