Centex posts $910.5 million quarterly loss!

BOSTON, Massachusetts - April 30, 2008 - Centex Corp. after Wednesday's closing bell reported a deep fiscal fourth-quarter loss as more data this week painted a bleaker outlook for the residential housing market.

The Dallas-based home builder Centex Corporation saw a quarterly loss of $910.5 million, or $7.36 a share, compared to net income of $198.9 million, or $1.65 a share, a year ago. The loss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was $7.34 a share. Revenue slid to $2.31 billion from $3.64 billion in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected a loss of $2.14 a share on revenue of $2.09 billion. Home closings during the period decreased 33% to 7,100 homes and average sales price slid 15% to $267,953.

Centex management is scheduled to hold a conference call Thursday morning to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter results. Analysts will be looking for any color on how the key spring sales season is progressing.