11:10am (EST)
We were betting on a good housing number this morning and we got it.
The Commerce Department reported sales rose 6.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 430,000 from an upwardly revised 405,000 in September. Wall Street had expected a number of 410,000.
The surge in sales was driven mostly by a 23% increase in the South. Sales fell 5% in the West and Northeast, and a whopping 20% in the Midwest but overall, the report was well received. We did our research last night and we were seeing some things that had us pretty bullish.
As a result, most of the homebuilding stocks we follow got a lift. KB Home (KB, $13.87, up $0.13), Lennar (LEN, $13.18, up $0.14), Pulte Homes (PHM, $9.43, up $0.13) and Toll Brothers (TOL, $19.53, up $0.03) are all showing slight gains.
The Dow didn’t quite get the pop we were expecting this morning at the open but the index is still up 24 points to 10,458. The S&P 500 is currently higher by 2 to 1,108 while the Nasdaq is showing a 7 point gain and is at 2,176.
We also note that gold is still hot…the yellow metal is up another $14 to $1,179/ ounce.
We wanted to get today’s update out a little early because we know many of you are headed out for the holidays. We will be back Friday morning with our next update and we hope all of you have a Great Thanksgiving! Stay long and strong…










Homebuilding Stocks Get A Pop
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
1:00pm (EST)
Toll Brothers (TOL, 21.13, up $2.74) is up 15% today after surprising Wall Street with some rather upbeat comments ahead of its earnings. The company said its new contracts are up over 40%, and that it expects 4Q revenue will top the Street’s expectations.
Revenue for the company is expected to come in at $487 million, well ahead of the market estimate of $386 million. Comments from the CEO:
“We have definitely progressed from one year ago. The shock to the financial system in mid-September 2008 that shut down the capital markets appears to be mostly behind us.
We have been cautious on the sector because we didn’t want to go long or short because of the uncertainty but this is the second straight quarter that Toll Brothers has said something “hot”. Something to keep an eye on…
Toll Brothers is expected to release earnings on November 23rd.
Other stocks in the sector also got a bump; KB Home (KBH, $15.49, up $0.81), Lennar (LEN, $15.09, up $0.79) and Pulte Homes (PHM, $9.95, up $0.49) are all up over 5%.
We also wanted to update our trades one last time before we go today. We got some breaking news on our retail trade that we just sent out. Also, our Priceline.com (PCLN, $197.10, down $7.12) was closed as the $7.50 stop was taken out. The official results for our 2009 portfolio shows a gain of 468%!
Current subscribers, please check the Members Area for the updates.
Tags: KB Home, Lennar, momentum options, option trading picks, options help, options mentoring, options track record, options trading, Priceline.com, Pulte Homes, Toll Brothers, trading options
Posted in Company Commentary, Earnings, Option Trades, Sectors, Stock Earnings, Trading Tips | Comments Off