Housing Stocks:The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

We had two pieces of news today in the housing sector, and neither one of which were given a cheer. 

• KB Home (KBH) issued earnings today and the losses were wide, but they are actually not below their recent 52-week lows even with shares down 0.5% at $24.00 today.
• Today’s new home sales for August fell another 8.3% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 795,000 annually.  The Commerce Department said this is the lowest level since 2000.

But the list of 52-WEEK LOWS continues to be littered with housing related stocks.  So much for the efficient market theory being able to price events and trends in….This is becoming habitual if you key in on our list of new lows each day. 

Here are the stocks that hit 52-week lows today, and a "***" is meant to denote stocks that hit 52-week lows but wouldn’t have a new 52-week low close if it closed there at the time:

• (BLG) Building Materials $10.90; $10.92 prior low (material side, not builder)
• (DHI) D R Horton $12.80, at low of $12.80
• (LEN) Lennar $21.85, below $22.20
• ***(PHHM) Palm Harbor Homes $12.46, above $12.14 prior
• (PHM) Pulte Homes $13.25, under $13.40 prior
• (RYL) Ryland $20.78, under $20.91 prior
• (SPF) Standard Pacific $5.69, under $5.90 prior

The beatings will continue until lender and borrower morale improves!

Jon C. Ogg
September 27, 2007