Two Housing Earnings, Two Trends (BZH, PHM, XHB)
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…
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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Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.