(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)
Pulte Homes Inc.(NYSE: PHM) is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings report earnings on Monday, August 3. Analysts currently expect the company to report quarterly loss of 57 cents per share on revenue of $647.07 million. In the year ago period, the company reported quarterly loss of $0.63 per share on revenue of $1.63 billion.
Pulte Homes Inc. engages in the homebuilding and financial services businesses primarily in the United States. The company's homebuilding business involves in the acquisition and development of land for residential purposes within the continental United States; and the construction of housing on such land for the first-time, first and second move-up, and active adult home buyers.
The homebuilder has been hit hard by the worst real estate recession in decades. Pulte lost almost $3.73 billion in the last two years, more than wiping out all of its profits for the previous three years.
However, there are
few signs of stabilization in housing market. The $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit also seems to be boosting sales. Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. rose 11% in June from the month before, as buyers responded to price cuts and tax credits meant to clear the still-massive backlog of unsold homes. Still, prices remain depressed due to difficult job market. The median new-home sales price in June fell to $206,600 from May's. The June median price was down 12% from $234,300 in June 2008.
Similarly, the S&P 500/Case-Shiller home price index reported an increase in May of 0.5%, the first increase in over 2 years. 15 out of 20 of the largest metro areas also saw month over month price increases.
Pulte Homes Inc.'s (NYSE:
) first-quarter loss narrowed to $514.8 million, or $2.02 a share, from a loss of $696.1 million, or $2.75 a share, in the first quarter last year. Revenue slumped to $587.4 million from $1.45 billion. Net new home orders for the quarter totaled 3,022 homes, down 44% from the first quarter of 2008 but up 71% from the fourth quarter
On April 8,
the company announced that it has agreed to acquire Centex Corp. - creating the nation's largest homebuilding company - in a stock transaction worth $3.1 billion, including $1.8 billion of debt. Integrating Centex’s operations will save Pulte $350 million a year. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
In terms of stock performance, Pulte Homes shares have gained 2% since the beginning of the year. On Friday, shares of the company rose 36 cents or 3.26% to $11.41.
Disclosure: Author doesn’t own any of the stocks mentioned here.
