Pulte Cuts Outlook - Blames Housing Market: "People are scared"
Pulte Homes today cut its outlook, blaming a lukewarm U.S. housing market and consumer bubble concerns. Housing stocks as a group are at a level not seen since late 2004. Hopefully, all of you housing stock investors got out early... in many analyst's opinions there's still a long way to drop for BZH, TOL and the rest of the group. Here's an excerpt from a Washington Post article about Pulte's announcement:
Analysts expect the current quarter's results for home builders will be much weaker than last year's, when the U.S. housing boom peaked.
"Buyer demand through April and May has been below expectations and below prior year levels," Pulte Chief Executive Richard Dugas Jr. said in a statement.
"Demand has been impacted by a number of factors including an increase in available inventory of new and existing homes, higher cancellation rates and higher interest rates," he added.
