UPDATE: FBN Securities Upgrades Hovnanian Enterprises

According to a research report published earlier today, FBN Securities has upgraded Hovnanian Enterprises HOV from Underperform to Sector Perform. FBN Securities commented in the report, “We are upgrading Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV, $2.02) from Underperform to Sector Perform. Shares have declined 37.7% since our downgrade to Underperform on February 9th. Although the underperformance in shares were the major factor for the upgrade back to Sector Perform, other factors contributed to the rating change. February/March Home Orders were up roughly 47% YOY (projected to be +39% YOY excluding Joint Ventures). Our internal 2Q estimate (excluding Joint Ventures) stood at +26.9% YOY before March Sales were released last week. In addition to stronger than expected February/March Orders, HOV issued a secondary of 25.0M shares (28.75M shares if over-allotment is exercised) on Wednesday, April 4th.” Hovnanian Enterprises is currently trading at $2.01.