Homebuilder Performance and Revenue Matrix

Much to many investors' surprise, homebuilder stocks have been strong performers so far in 2008.  The S&P 1500 Homebuilder group is up 15.5% year to date, and many stocks in the group are up 25% or more.  As shown below, MHO, SPF and HOV are each up over 65%, PHM is up 40.7% and MTH is up 39.8%. 

We created a matrix that highlights the 2007 regional revenue breakdown (data from Bloomberg) for some of the key stocks in the group.  The darker the green shading, the bigger the regional revenues for each stock.  Each company has different ways of categorizing their revenues, so unfortunately there isn't a standard North/South/East/West breakdown.  When analyzing the matrix, remember that California, Nevada and South Florida have taken the biggest hits in terms of real estate prices, while the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and the Farm Belt have held up the best.  From the matrix, it seems that NVR, HOV, TOL and MHO have stayed away from the West Coast the most.