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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (54506)	2/22/2006 3:09:30 PM
From: patron_anejo_por_favor	Respond to of 110194

>>they need to work on their data base because it is quite inaccurate<< True...but it IS entertaining! "Thou shalt not zillow thy neighbor" or somesuch......<G>

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (54506)	2/22/2006 4:17:43 PM
From: ild	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

=DJ UPDATE:Hovnanian 1Q Orders Up But Slowing In Some Markets By Janet Morrissey Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Home builder Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (HOV) is seeing demand slow in certain markets, as many other conventional home builders have been reporting, but is not seeing the sharp drop-off in orders luxury builder Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) recently posted. Hovnanian said orders rose 5.5% in its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31, which is far different from the 29% decline Toll reported recently for the same period. Despite the year-over-year growth, Hovnanian said demand and the ability to raise prices are returning to more "normalized levels" in certain markets, such as California, Florida, Washington and the Northeast. Orders declined 11% in the Southwest and 37% in the West but rose 17% in the Northeast and 61% in the Southeast. "Market conditions remain somewhat slower than the very strong sales environment experienced in these markets earlier in 2005 and 2004," the company said in a statement. Bank of America analyst Dan Oppenheim said much of Hovnanian's order growth was driven by acquisitions. If acquisitions were excluded, he said orders would be down 10%. "This overall order growth is slower than the fourth quarter of 2005, when orders increased 30.3%," Oppenheim said in a note. He noted that the 61% order increase in the Southeast was largely due to the company's recent acquisitions of Cambridge Homes and First Home Builders of Florida. Hovnanian affirmed it expects to meet or exceed its fiscal first-quarter earnings projection of $1.10 to $1.25 a share. Oppenheim speculates the growth will be driven by fatter gross profit margins related to price increases contained in sales currently in the company's backlog. UBS analyst Margaret Whelan lowered her per-share earnings projection to $8.40 from $8.50 for fiscal 2006 and to $10.50 from $11 for fiscal 2007 to reflect the slower order growth. The news appeared to buoy other home builders, which appeared relieved that Hovnanian was not experiencing the hefty 29% order drop-off that Toll had reported. Home-building stocks were up across the board, with shares of Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH), Centex Corp. (CTX), D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI), Lennar Corp. (LEN), M.D.C. Holdings Inc. (MDC), Meritage Homes Corp. (MTH), NVR Inc. (NVR), Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM), Ryland Group Inc. (RYL), and Standard Pacific Corp. (SPF) all rising more than 3%. The group has also benefited from recent positive articles in The Wall Street Journal and Barron's magazine touting the attractiveness of the companies' valuations Even shares of Toll Brothers, rebounding from a sharp selloff last week, were up more than 5%. However, the rally could be short-lived since Toll is expected to cut its guidance for fiscal 2006 when it releases its fiscal first-quarter results tomorrow. Oppenheim and Whelan do not hold shares in Hovnanian, but their firms have had an investment-banking relationship with the company during the past 12 months. Hovnanian's shares recently traded at $48.59, up 5.5%, on volume of 1.1 million. Average daily volume is 956,000. -By Janet Morrissey, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2118