On Tuesday, Pulte Homes Inc. posted a larger-than-estimated loss in earnings for the past year's fourth-quarter, despite receiving aid from tax benefit, a news which managed to knock its shares down even further.

Despite the fact that for 2009's last three-months, the largest American builder's net loss managed to squeeze down to $116.9 Million, or 31 cents per share, from 2008's fourth-quarter figure of $338.2 Million, or $1.33 a share, he numbers beat the estimates pegged by analysts by a large margin, who were expecting a loss of a mere 19 cents per share.

"One of the strategic pillars to the deal was acquiring Centex' 56,000 lots. I think everyone is getting a better appreciation for the current land environment and the limited availability of well-positioned finished lots", said Chief Executive Richard Dugas.

Revenue, however, did manage to rise by 5% to $1.7 Billion, which beat the analysts' expectation of $1.5 Billion.

"We believe Pulte's orders and core margins are consistent with our outlook for demand to continue to stabilize if not slowly re-emerge", said JPMorgan analyst Michael Rehaut.