Dallas, TX, October 16, 2006--Centex Corp., the nation’s fourth-largest home builder, cut its quarterly earnings outlook to about half its forecast in July as a slumping housing market led to record home sale cancellations.
The company revised its estimate for diluted earnings from continuing operations for the quarter ended Sept. 30 to a range of $0.65 to $0.75 cents per share.
The company on July 24 said it expected earnings of $1.40 per share. Centex said it will release earnings for its fiscal 2007 second quarter on Oct. 24.
Net orders for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 were 6,828, a 28 percent drop from a year ago. The decline reflects record cancellations, driven in part by the inability of buyers to sell existing homes, the company said.
"Cancellation rates that were well outside of historical levels diminished our earnings visibility this quarter," said Chairman and Chief Executive Tim Eller.
The company also said it expects option deposit and pre- acquisition walk-away costs to be in the $85 million to $95 million range during the quarter.
