Shares of Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. and other homebuilders regained some of their recent losses on Tuesday, following an analyst upgrade and speculation that the Federal Reserve will continue to cut interest rates.
Citigroup analyst Stephen Kim said in a report late Monday that the homebuilding industry’s decline has made some homebuilder stocks attractive, prompting an increase across the sector.
Standard Pacific’s stock ended up 6% for the day, giving it a market value of about $380 million. The company’s shares still are down nearly 70% for the year.
Other builders saw similar gains. Miami-based Lennar Corp.’s shares were up 6%, Los Angeles-based KB Home was up 4% and Calabasas-based Ryland Corp. saw a 5.8% gain.
The improvement came the same day that a monthly index that forecasts near-term home sales hit a record low.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 6.5% from July, and 21.5% from a year ago. It’s the lowest ever for the index, which started in 2001.
