Pulte Post 3Q Loss
Analysts had forecast a loss of $0.81per share.
The company recorded a pretax accounting charge of $1.18 billion, or $3.33 per share, to reflect the decreasing value of the land it owns. Homebuilders carry land on their books at the value they think they can sell it for once they build a home on it. When home prices slip, the homebuilders cannot wring as much value out of their land.
Sales of homes dropped 31% percent to $2.44 billion. Total revenue, which includes mortgage services, sank 31 percent to $2.47 billion from $3.56 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $2.38 billion.
For the first nine months of the year, Pulte lost $1.38 billion, or $5.48 a share, compared with earnings of $695.9 million, or $2.69 a share, a year earlier. Nine-month revenue totaled $6.36 billion, compared with $9.89 billion a year earlier.
"The operating environment continues to be challenged with elevated levels of new and resale home inventory, tightening of mortgage liquidity, and weak consumer sentiment for housing," said Richard J. Dugas Jr., president and chief executive.
Pulte sold 7,468 homes during the third quarter, a 28% decline. The average price of a home sold slipped 4% to $322,000.
New orders fell 37% to 4,572, helping shrink the pipeline of new business to $4.1 billion from $5.8 billion a year ago.
Pulte Homes expects to break even or earn as much as $0.10 per share excluding land-related charges in the fourth quarter.