Local News RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail StoryHomebuilder’s losses top $1 billion
| Tuesday, May 6 2008 5:20 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 7 2008 7:38 AM
D.R. Horton Inc. lost $1.3 billion, or $4.14 per diluted share, during its second quarter, the Texas-based homebuilder announced Tuesday.
Our readers recommend:
Loading Stories
Related Stories:
The loss compares to profit of $51.7 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, a year ago.
The company’s second quarter ended March 31.
Results included $834 million in pre-tax charges for dropped land deals and inventory impairments. A year earlier, similar charges totaled $81 million.
D.R. Horton has several projects in Kern County, but results were not broken out to that level of detail.
The homebuilder, the nation’s largest by volume, breaks out California as its own region.
California results showed steep price declines in year-over-year results, Tuesday’s release indicated.
Orders in the Golden State for the quarter were almost flat — 1,120 this year compared to 1,107 the previous year — but the value of those orders dropped dramatically, from $533 million to $335 million.
When broken down to per-home cost, the average value of orders in California plummeted almost 38 percent. A year ago, that quarterly average was more than $481,000; this time around, it ran about $299,000.
For all of D.R. Horton’s regions nationwide, that drop was just more than 15 percent, sinking from an average $260,000 to about $221,000.
The homebuilder closed deals for 829 California units during the second quarter with an average price of $375,000. A year earlier, 1,038 homes closed in California with an average price nearing $477,000.
Some 33 percent of the company’s orders were canceled during the second quarter, the release said.
Donald R. Horton, board chairman, said in the release market conditions remain challenging but “we continue to focus on reducing inventory and generating cash flow from operations.”
The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DHI, ended trading Tuesday with shares up 88 cents at $16.85.
On Monday, the parent company of K. Hovnanian Homes, another national homebuilder with a Kern presence, said it achieved positive cash flow during its second-quarter, which ended April 30.
The New Jersey-based company tripled positive cash flow projections for the 2008 fiscal year to $300 million or more.