Boston, MA 01/31/2014 (wallstreetpr) – PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) can offer great lessons to struggling homebuilder stocks on how to deal with the fallout in mortgage sector. The company managed to stage attractive Q4 results, citing cost improvement and price hikes as supportive strategies in the quarter. PHM reported net income of $220.1 million, translating to $0.57 per share. That compares with $58.7 million or $0.15 per share realized in the corresponding quarter the previous year. The earnings also exceeded analysts’ estimate of $0.46 per share, according to Bloomberg data. On revenue side, the company generated $1.61 billion, up from $1.48 billion a year earlier. For most homebuilders, raising prices and cutting cost has been a handy strategy to deal with the high mortgage rates which have kept homebuyers away from the market.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) managed to climb more than 3 percent by bell time on Thursday following positive news that the company had signed a deal with Specialised Therapeutics Australia (STA) for the commercialization of Iclusig in Australia. ARIA is clearly seeking to break new grounds with its new chronic myeloid leukemia drug. Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA)’s attention was temporarily taken off the commercialization of the drug as regulatory agencies in Europe and U.S. took Iclusig off the market to undertake scrutiny on its efficacy and safety. The drug has now gotten a clean bill of health and is ripe for commercialization. Sale in Australia is expected to help ARIA generate significant revenue from the drug given the big number of chronic myeloid leukemia patients in the country and also the high gross margin of the product.
Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) said that its full-year and Q4 production topped estimates. The company produced 1.5 million ounces of gold in Q4 and 5.1 million ounces of the precious metal in full-year. Production for copper in the quarter came to 38 million pounds and 144 million pounds in the full-year. Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM) now hopes to consolidate gold and copper production this year. It is looking to generate between 5 and 5.3 million ounces of gold in 2014. Production of copper is however expected to consolidate between 160,000 and 175,000 tonnes in the current year.
