Beazer Homes USA moves to 4Q loss, new orders drop

[November 05, 2010]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Friday it moved to a fiscal fourth-quarter loss on inventory charges as new orders and home closings declined.

Home sales are near the lowest levels in decades ever since federal homebuyer tax credits expired in April.

Absent government incentives -- and despite low mortgage rates -- many consumers are holding off on home purchases, discouraged by high unemployment and tight credit.

Beazer lost $59.5 million, or 81 cents per share, for the period ended Sept. 30. That compares with earnings of $33.8 million, or 84 cents per share, a year earlier.

The loss from continuing operations was 78 cents per share.

The company booked pretax charges for inventory impairments and lot option abandonments of $26.5 million during the quarter, compared with a charge of $29.9 million a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 46 cents a share, on average. Analysts' estimates typically exclude discontinued operations and one-time items.

Revenue dropped 25 percent to $274.8 million, but beat Wall Street's view of $255.3 million.

Home closings slid 30 percent to 1,189, while new orders fell 20 percent to 810 homes. Beazer, one of the nation's ten largest builders in single-family homes, operates in states including Arizona, California, Nevada and Florida, all hard hit by the housing slump.

Other major homebuilders have also reported double-digit declines in orders now that the homebuyer tax credit has ended. This week, PulteGroup Inc. said new home orders slid 12 percent from a year ago and roughly 15 percent since the second quarter. Last week, builder Meritage Homes Corp. said orders were down 36 percent from a year ago, while Ryland Group Inc. reported orders were down 37 percent.

The U.S. said last month that home sales rose 6.6 percent from August to September, but the May-September period still clocked in as the worst for new home sales on records dating back to 1963.

For the full year, Atlanta-based Beazer posted a loss of $34 million, or 57 cents per share, on revenue of $1 billion. That's narrower than the prior-year loss of $189.4 million, or $4.90 per share, on revenue of $971.7 million.

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Online:

Beazer Homes USA: http://www.beazer.com/

[Associated Press]

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