Mr. Reichardt: The most notable thing about 2001 was a big rally in the stocks starting in mid-November and carrying into 2002. We've seen a number of names up 70%-80% in this very short period of time. Much of this has been due to continued strength in builder order rates, which was much stronger than we had anticipated post-September 11. In addition, the companies have continued on their path of beating earnings expectations by large margins, and that continued to occur in Q4. In 2002, on average, the year-to-date percentage change for the universe that we look at is up 10%-15%, which is pretty healthy. That has been driven by what appears to be a burgeoning economic recovery, the fact that the stocks remain cheap relative to the market on a p/e basis, and expectations that the housing market is going to continue to be fairly strong in 2002.
TWST: Have all the stocks come back after the falloff in the wake of
September 11?
Mr. Reichardt: Almost all of them have. It depends on the name as to the
actual percentage change, but most have returned at least 60% over that
time frame.
Tickers included in this excerpt: DHI, FNM, LEN, RYL, TOL
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