Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. saw its stock approach a six-month high on Wednesday, after executives noted improved fourth-quarter housing trends.
Chief Financial Officer Andrew Parnes said at a homebuilder’s conference that the company is seeing home order and cancellation rates improve in the first two months of the fourth quarter, compared to a difficult third-quarter for the homebuilder.
During the past two months, new home orders, or contracts to buy a Standard Pacific home, have seen a modest improvement, and now are down close to 40% from a year ago. That’s an improvement from the 58% decline in the third quarter.
At the same time, the cancellation rate for home orders has fallen to the low 40% range, down from 50% in the third quarter. That’s still up from a cancellation rate of about 20% a year ago.
Parnes said the company has begun a more aggressive short-term pricing strategy, and now is focused on generating cash, rather than turning big profit margins.
He spoke at the New York Society of Security Analysts Homebuilding Conference.
Standard Pacific’s stock was up about 4% in midday trading on Wednesday and is up about 20% in the past month. The company’s market value is nearly $2 billion.
Some Wall Street analysts have suggested that the worst of the housing slump may be over.
