Home building plus

摘要

The National Association of Home Builders predicts that housing starts will be down 5% this year, to 1.5 million. If that happens, earnings could be pinched at the nation's three largest home builders, Kaufman & Broad, Pulte and D.R. Horton. But number four builder, Centex Corp., stands a good chance of eking out a profit gain, to $250 million, on sales of $5.5 billion. How might Dallas-based Centex buck the trend? By dint of being more than just a builder of homes. It has, over the years, diversified into half a dozen businesses, ranging from cement to pest control, that are ancillary to home construction, and it is looking for still more distractions.