Dive Brief:

• New Jersey-based home builder Hovnanian Enterprises blamed a harsh winter, among other factors, for a loss of 17 cents per share in its first quarter (November-January).
• Hovnanian said labor and materials problems in some of its markets caused fewer home deliveries even though revenue was up from the year before, and its net contracts were 1,202 homes during the quarter compared with 1,344 a year earlier.
• Publicly traded Hovnanian suffered the market's wrath for the results, and its stock value dropped 3.5%.

Dive Insight:

Hovnanian's explanation of materials and labor problems are what all the construction and building trade organizations have been saying will happen. The decline in contracts is not surprising, given the tough winter in the central and eastern U.S., but it appears to have hit Hovnanian particularly hard. The company sells under the brand names K. Hovnanian Homes, Brighton Homes, Parkwood Builders, Town & Country Homes, and Oster Homes.