by Kyle Woodley | February 27, 2012 4:46 pm
[1]U.S. housing market data continued a strong 2012 showing Monday, sending homebuilder stocks up on an otherwise flat day.
The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index rose 2% to 97 in January[2], a high not seen since April 2010, when it hit 111.3. Pending sales are considered an early (though not wholly accurate) indicator of home sales, and several homebuilding stocks rose as a result.
Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV[3]) finished up 4.6% Monday, NVR (NYSE:NVR[4]) gained 2.1%, D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI[5]) was up 1.9% and KB Home (NYSE:KBH[6]) was up 1.1%.
Home improvement company Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW[7]) also recorded a modest gain after better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Fourth-quarter earnings per share of 29 cents topped Zacks estimates for 23 cents and were up almost 40% from the year-ago period. Sales of $11.6 billion were up a Street-beating 11%. Lowe’s, like Home Depot (NYSE:HD[8]), credited a warm winter for the surge, and LOW shares popped on the news before dwindling down to a gain of less than 1%.
Energy stocks also were trending higher Monday. Driller Transocean (NYSE:RIG[9]
) was up more than 5%, thanks to positive developments in its lawsuit over the Macondo oil spill that helped the company overcome weak fourth-quarter earnings. BP (NYSE:BP[10]) also gained 1% as it discussed settlements around the spill. Meanwhile, a host of other energy stocks were recording strong gains, including ATP Oil & Gas (NASDAQ:ATPG[11], +19%), Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG[12], +11.8%) and Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI[13], +4.6%).
Kyle Woodley[20] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[21]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[22].
Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/02/homebuilder-energy-stocks-nov-nvr-dhi-kbh-low-bp-rig/
Copyright ©2025 InvestorPlace unless otherwise noted.