Dividend.com: D.R. Horton Cutting Payout

The coming months will be very difficult for fund managers like Eaton Vance, who are seeing a mass exodus of cash from their funds amid the biggest financial crisis in our nation's history.

Eaton Vance is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com Rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars.

D.R. Horton Reports $800 Million Loss, Slashes Dividend by 50%

Homebuilder D.R. Horton(DHI Quote) reported Monday that a fiscal fourth-quarter loss ballooned to $800 million on costs due to unsold housing inventory and land disposal.

The $800 million fourth-quarter loss, or $2.53 a share, dwarfed the company's loss from the same period last year, in which it lost $50 million, or 16 cents a share. Sales in the quarter fell to $1.75 billion, down from $3.12 billion in the year-ago period.

That sales number --$1.75 billion -- actually beat analyst estimates, which had expected $1.5 billion.

Donald Horton, CEO of DHI, said that the company continues "to adjust our business to the current homebuilding environment by reducing our homes under construction and our owned lot position, controlling costs, and repaying debt."

The company also said it would cut its dividend payout in half, from 30 cents to 15 cents annually. This marks the second dividend cut of the year for D.R. Horton.

Strangely, the stock bounced up over $1, to $6.05 per share today after the report, similar to the bump the stock received after warning about the impending quarterly loss a couple weeks ago.

We have been avoiding shares of D.R. Horton since our early June coverage began, when shares were trading around the $12 level. After the latest dividend cut, the company will have a 3% dividend yield, based on last night's closing price of $5. The gigantic quarterly loss, the second dividend cut this year, and a housing market that shows no signs of rebounding are more than enough to keep us away from this troubled housing name.