Lennar Corp (LEN)
Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript
December 18, 2008 11:00 a.m. ET

Executives

Scott Shipley – Director of Investor Relations
Stuart Miller – President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Bruce Gross – Chief Financial Officer and Vice President
David Collins - Controller

Analysts

Michael Rehaut - JPMorgan
David Goldberg - UBS
Ivy Zelman - Zelman & Associates
Carl Reichardt – Wachovia Securities
Nishu Sood - Deutsche Bank
Chris Bailey - JPMorgan
Josh Levin - Citigroup
Stephen East - Pali Capital, Inc.
Timothy Jones - Wasserman & Associates
James Wilson - JMP Securities
Megan Talbott McGrath - Barclays Capital
Buck Horne - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Kenneth Zener - Macquarie Research Equities

Presentation

Operator

Hello and welcome to Lennar''s fourth quarter and year-end conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Today’s call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Scott Shipley, Director of Investor Relations for the reading of the forward-looking statement.

Scott Shipley

Good morning and thank you. Today''s conference call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties relating to Lennar''s future business and financial performance. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding Lennar''s business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow strategies and prospects.

Forward-looking statements represent only Lennar''s estimates on the date of this conference call and are not intended to give any assurance as to actual future results. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.

Many factors could cause Lennar''s actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results anticipated in the forward-looking statements. These factors include those described under the caption Risk Factors contained in Lennar''s annual report on Form 10-K most recently filed with the SEC.

Please note that Lennar assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Operator

I would like to introduce your host, Mr. Stuart Miller, President and CEO. Sir, you may begin.

Stuart Miller

Yes. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter 2008 and year-end 2008 earnings update. I am joined this morning by Bruce Gross, our Chief Financial Officer; Diane Bessette, our Vice President and Treasurer; and David Collins, our Controller. Bruce will provide additional detail on our numbers and as is traditional, David will give you an update on our asset review and impairments, a report that we have done for just about three years now and Diane of course will be available to participate in our question-and-answer period.

And just as a housekeeping item before I start, I would like to request that in our question-and-answer period that will follow my opening, and Bruce''s and David''s opening remarks that you please limit to just one question, one follow-up, so that we can be as fair as possible to all of our participants. Of course, we welcome you to rejoin the queue and as time permits, we will answer as many questions as we can.

Let me start by saying that against the backdrop of what I would say, is clearly the most difficult housing market that I and I dare say any of those of us in the housing industry have ever encountered, Lennar''s management team and associates have put forth an extremely productive quarter. We continue to focus on the basics of rebuilding our operating business, while we have continued to carefully manage our asset base and we have worked diligently to rework and reposition our joint ventures.

We are making credible progress toward stability and ultimately profitability in the most difficult times. Now with that said, I would like to start my comments this morning by giving what I think is a clear view of the troubled market conditions, in which we are operating, and recognize that at the end of the day I feel rather optimistic that this condition is going to correct itself as the government continues to intervene. But I do think that it is important for all of you to understand the market conditions as we see them today.