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	<title>pligg - published -builders-</title>
	<link>http://www.housebubble.org</link>
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	<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:23:08 MST</pubDate>
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		<title><![CDATA[Real Estate CEO on the bust:  "We're in the very early stages"]]></title>
		<link>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Real-Estate-CEO-on-bust-Were-in-very-early-stages</link>
		<comments>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Real-Estate-CEO-on-bust-Were-in-very-early-stages</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:23:08 MST</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>chippy</dc:creator>
		<category>builders</category>
		<guid>http://www.housebubble.org/story.php?title=Real-Estate-CEO-on-bust-Were-in-very-early-stages</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Marketwatch is reporting that &amp;quot;D.R. Horton Inc., the nation's largest home builder, said Tuesday that net income fell about 65% as the company took land charges and write-offs on options it plans not to pursue.D.R. Horton became the latest residential builder to announce a decline in quarterly profit as well as land-related charges as the housing and real-estate markets soften. Still, per-share earnings topped Wall Street's expectations and the stock rose in early action Tuesday as many analysts had expected steeper charges.D.R. Horton reported net income fell to $109.7 million, or 35 cents a share, for the first quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $310.1 million, or 98 cents, earned in the year-ago period. Total revenue fell about $403 million, to $2.8 billion.Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had forecast, on average, a profit of $112.3 million, or 33 cents a share.The company's quarterly net income included charges of $40.9 million of inventory impairments and $36.8 million of write-offs on land options. D.R. Horton closed 10,202 homes for the quarter, up from 9,891 a year earlier.The company said previously that net sales orders for new homes for the quarter fell 23% from a year earlier. Backlog of homes awaiting construction as of Dec. 31 was 16,694 homes valued at $4.7 billion, compared with 20,816 homes and $6.2 billion the previous year.&amp;quot;We continued to focus on improving our strong balance sheet and reducing our inventory while managing our business profitably,&amp;quot; said Chairman Donald Horton in a statement, adding conditions in the home-building industry &amp;quot;remain challenging.&amp;quot;He said the company reduced its lot position by 25% from its March 2006 peak to 297,000 lots owned and controlled. It also cut the number of homes under construction to about 26,000, down 35% from a high reached in June 2006.During the conference call Tuesday, Chief Executive Donald Tomnitz said &amp;quot;we're in the very early stages&amp;quot; of the current housing slowdown. &amp;quot;Most of these downturns are longer and deeper, and right now we don't see anything on the horizon that would change that opinion,&amp;quot; the CEO said.&amp;quot;We continue to see a very challenging industry environment for fiscal 2007,&amp;quot; he added.D.R. Horton's stock rose 5.1% to $28.51 late Tuesday afternoon.Deutsche Bank analyst Nishu Sood in a note Tuesday called D.R. Horton's quarterly results &amp;quot;strong&amp;quot; and said they reflect the company's continued efforts to contain costs across the board.&amp;quot;That write-downs of $78 million in [the fiscal first quarter] were sequentially less than the $199 million reported in [fiscal fourth quarter of 2006] should not surprise investors, as it is consistent with our view that most builders would report higher fiscal year-end write-downs,&amp;quot; Sood said.&amp;quot;For other builders reporting December fiscal year-ends in the next few weeks, we continue to expect a spike in write-downs,&amp;quot; the analyst added. &amp;quot; &nbsp;&#187;&nbsp;<a href='http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dr-hortons-profit-plunges-stock/story.aspx?guid={4B5FD82B-46AB-454B-9C52-5D806AA56170}'>original news</a>]]></description>
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