Lennar, one of the country's leading homebuilders, reported a first-quarter net loss of $88.2 million, after turning a $68.6 million profit in the same period last year. The results were not nearly as bad as some had expected, sending the company's shares more than 4 percent higher in late-afternoon trading.
The earnings report is here.
Some notable numbers from the report:
- Revenues of $1.1 billion, down 62 percent.
- Delivery of 3,596 homes, down 60 percent.
- New orders of 3,045 homes, down 57 percent, with a cancellation rate of 26 percent.
- A backlog with a dollar value of $1.2 billion, down 67 percent.
In a statement accompanying the release, Lennar President and CEO Stuart Miller explained:
Market conditions have remained challenged and continued to deteriorate throughout our first quarter of 2008. The housing industry continues to be impacted by an unfavorable supply and demand relationship, which restricts the volume of new home sales and, concurrently, depresses home prices in most markets across the country.
"For the homebuilders, it's simply a case of supply and demand," Argus Research analyst Rashid Dahod told Bloomberg. "There's just too much supply out there right now."
The full article is here.
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