(RTTNews) - Homebuilder DR Horton Inc. (DHI: News ) is slated to announce its fourth-quarter results before the market opens Friday. Analysts are of the view that the company's quarterly loss per share would narrow significantly from last year while they forecast a year-over-year decline in revenues.

Founded in 1978 by Donald Horton, D.R. Horton, builds single-family homes in 83 markets, in 27 states. The Fortune 500 company's headquarters are located in Fort Worth, Texas. The company was ranked as the largest homebuilder by units sold in the US since 2003.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report a loss of $0.24 per share for the fourth quarter on revenues of $1.11 billion. Analysts' forecast typically excludes one-time items.

For the year-ago fourth quarter, the company had posted a loss of $2.53 per share on revenues of $1.78 billion. Net loss applicable to common shares was $799.80 million in last year's fourth quarter.

The Commerce Department has released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected decrease in housing starts for the month of October. The report said that housing starts fell 10.6% to an annual rate of 529,000 in October from the revised September estimate of 592,000. A notable decrease in the construction of new multi-family homes contributed to the unexpected decrease, with the rate for buildings with five units or more falling 33.3% to 48,000. Single-family starts also fell 6.8% to an annual rate of 476,000, the Department said.
The drop has surprised economists, who had expected starts to edge up to 600,000 from the previous month's initial estimate of 590,000. Analysts pointed out that the decline came at a time when homebuilders where still facing the imminent expiration of the first-time homebuyers tax credit.

Meanwhile, RealtyTrac, an online marketplace of foreclosure properties, last month said that foreclosure filings in the third quarter increased 23% from the year-ago period, and were up 5% from the previous quarter. Releasing its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for the third quarter of 2009, RealtyTrac said one in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, which is the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since the firm began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005.

For the sequential third quarter, DR Horton reported a narrower loss, helped by lower charges and a benefit from provision for income taxes. Net loss reached $142.3 million or $0.45 per share, compared with a net loss of $399.3 million or $1.26 per share in the year-ago quarter.

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