Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) and PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) are seeing two different reactions after earnings.
Beazer’s recent order growth came at a price against margins. It had 31% order growth but the company’s gross margin appears to have fallen to 7.4% from almost 10% just a quarter earlier. The move suggests that the company’s sacrificed by using incentives and discounting, but the reaction has been favorable with a gain of 4.7% to $3.32 on the day versus a 52-week range of $1.35 to $5.64.
Pulte had the first quarterly profit ($13.8 million, or $0.04 EPS) in 18 months, while revenues rose 6% to $1.26 billion. The average selling price for its homes was up 3% but closings fell 2% to 4,303 homes and new home orders rose just over 1% to 3,084. PulteGroup shares are down 1.5% at $7.71 and its 52-week trading range is $3.29 to $8.44.
Currently the SPDR Series Trust SPDR Homebuilder (NYSE: XHB) ETF is up about 1.2% at $19.47 against a 52-week range of $12.21 to $19.56. The shares reached within two-cents of a 52-week high today. Perhaps those record low mortgage rates are helping after all.
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