Mr. Dugas: Pulte Homes is a great American success story. Founded by Bill Pulte in 1950, the company has grown into the largest diversified national homebuilder in the country. This is our 54th year of operation. We build new homes in 27 states and approximately 45 markets nationally. We are the only builder with the stated strategy of building to all price points and to serve all major buyer segments including first-time buyer, first and second move up and active adults. We build for a variety of price points ranging from homes priced at approximately $100,000, to homes priced over $1 million. Pulte's average price is in the $270,000 to $280,000 range. Pulte Homes has a demonstrated track record of delivering profitable growth over our history. Pulte began its business here in Michigan in the Detroit metro area and expanded through the late 1950s and 1960s, all the way up to the present day. The result is that Pulte has grown into one of the largest homebuilders in the country, with revenues on track to reach over $11 billion this year. That's a brief description.
TWST: What's your outlook on low interest rates?
Mr. Dugas: The low interest rate environment has certainly benefited the
housing industry, but we do not believe it is the primary driver behind
Pulte's success. Our expectations are that rates will trend up at a
measured pace during the coming months and quarters. With that said, our
outlook is very bullish. We gave guidance to our investing community at
the end of July when we published our second quarter results that showed
strong earnings growth for the balance of this year. At our investor
conference in February 2004, we provided some initial guidance about
Pulte's long-term goals out to 2006, and we are very bullish on all
indicators. We expect the overall housing market to remain solid and
that Pulte Homes will continue to aggressively expand its share within
the U.S. housing market.
Tickers included in this excerpt: PHM
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