JOE Earnings Stock trades up $5

[goofer]

DJ St. Joe Co. 4Q Net Falls 36% To $23.8M; Rev Down 18% >JOE
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

St. Joe Co. (JOE) Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $23.8 million, or 32 cents a share, down from a year-ago profit of $37.2 million, or 49 cents a share.

Revenue fell 18% to $210.7 million from $256.1 million in the same period a year earlier.

The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial was for a profit of 24 cents a share in the December quarter on sales of $221.6 million.

The Jacksonville, Fla., home builder said it expects its residential business in 2007 to be much like its performance in 2006.

The company also said it plans to spend between $50 million and $100 million on dividends and buybacks in 2007.

Shares of St. Joe closed Monday at $58.59, down a penny.

 

[redfisher]

I didn't think you could make money in r/e anymore? Meltdown, $100 oil, deficits and all that...

 

[goofer]

JOE has demonstrated the leverage in cost cutting.

 

[Smiling JOe]

JOE has demonstrated the leverage in cost cutting.

see this thread for more JOE cost cutting.

 

[SHELLY]

I didn't think you could make money in r/e anymore? Meltdown, $100 oil, deficits and all that...

From article in Bloomberg, Feb 7, 2007:

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Tuttle owns so much land that he paid $3.6 million to get rid of 125 acres ready for development in the middle of Florida's Palm Beach County.

``In 2005, I was a brain surgeon, and in 2006, I was a moron,'' said Tuttle, who walked away from his deposit on the land rather than lose even more money buying it and building homes on it. ``The only good news is that I'm not alone.''

St. Joe Co., Florida's biggest private landowner, said yesterday the average price per acre of land it sold in the fourth quarter dropped to $1,900 from $4,100 in the third quarter.

Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant in Deerfield Beach, Florida, said land prices in his region will keep falling. He said investors are waiting for prices to hit bottom, probably in the second half of this year.

``It's going to be pretty ugly,'' McCabe said. ``Lots of people will lose money and a lot of paper wealth will be going away.''

 

[redfisher]

Poor Bryan, its just a tragedy what he did to himself...Its a good thing he was wealthy enough to walk away...

 

[Miss Kitty]

You win some, you lose some.