Pulte Drops Earnings Guidance

Homebuilder Pulte Homes has lowered its earnings guidance based primarily on lower-than-expected pricing and unit volume from the company's operations in Las Vegas, where prices have become higher than the market will support.Richard J. Dugas Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte, said the builder "has already implemented actions to lower local market pricing to better align the company's operations with current market conditions" and now expects its earnings to be in the range of $1.95 to $2.05 per share versus the previously issued guidance of $2.00 to $2.10 per share. Pulte can be found on the Web at http://www.pulte.com.