CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. (CBG) reported third quarter earnings of 4 cents a share. Excluding one-time charges, the company earned 8 cents per share which was a penny down from the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents. The company had earned 27 cents on an adjusted basis in the year-ago period. CB Richard Ellis reported a net income of $12.4 million or 4 cents a share, down from income of $40.4 million or 19 cents a year earlier. The credit market downturn and the economic recession have significantly impacted major investment sales and leasing markets globally. Increased unemployment levels coupled with store closures by retailers are significantly impacting the commercial real estate market and thereby impacting the company’s earnings. However, the company is experiencing the benefits of the cost containments measures and remains right on track to achieve its goal of reducing annualized operating ...

Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. is an independent exploration and production company focused on developing and producing oil and natural gas. The company operates primarily in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico, and has extensive experience utilizing 3-D seismic and horizontal drilling.

President and CEO Clayton W. Williams leads the company with more than a half a century of experience in the energy industry. Mr. Williams has also been involved in a broad spectrum of other business enterprises, including gas pipeline operations, ranching, real estate development and management, banking and telecommunications.

In recent news, the company announced that it plans to increase capital spending for the rest of the year in response to lower drilling and completion costs and higher oil prices. Clayton Williams Energy now plans to invest approximately $107.7 million in exploration and development activities instead of the previous estimate totaling approximately $78.5 million.

Clayton W. Williams, Jr., President commented, “Over the

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Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HE) reported $20.4 million, or $0.22 per diluted share ($0.23 basic), consolidated net income in the 1st quarter of 2009, compared to $34 million, or $0.41 per share (basic and diluted) in the year-ago quarter. Similarly, consolidated revenue of $543.8 million in the reported 1st quarter of 2009 was lower compared with revenue of $729.6 million in the 1st quarter of 2008.Electric utility net income for the 1st quarter of 2009 was $14.1 million compared with $24.6 million in 2008. Lower net income was primarily due to lower electric sales and higher operations and maintenance expenses. Kilowatt-hour sales were down 7.4% in the reported compared with the year-ago quarter, impacting utility net income by an estimated $9 million. Sales were down mainly due to cooler, less humid weather and one less day of sales due to the leap year day in 2008....

Tejon Ranch Company (TRC) is a real estate development and agri-business company committed to responsibly utilizing its land and resources to meet the housing, employment, and lifestyle needs of Californians and create value for shareholders. The company's prime asset is approximately 270,000 acres of contiguous, largely undeveloped land that, at its most southerly border, is 60 miles north of Los Angeles. Tejon Ranch is the same size as Hong Kong and is 40% the size of Rhode Island.The company's 3 major development projects are the Tejon Industrial Complex, Tejon Mountain Village and Centennial. As commercial, industrial and residential entitlements are pursued, the stock's valuation ought to expand.We expect the value of land to significantly increase as further entitlement processes are completed, which involve state and county approval along with the expected subsequent law suits by environmental groups. As management succeeds in its vision of ...

In its latest effort to maintain an annual economic growth rate of 8%, China announced new plans to stimulate the country’s ailing real estate sector.

Beijing said the new stimulus package will benefit 7.5 million low-income urban families and 2.4 million households located in the more remote countryside.

China pumped $387.5 billion into real estate development over the first 11 months of the year, up 22.7% from the same period in 2007. However, residential sales fell 18.8% year-over-year, despite the investment.

Beijing is now trying to reignite the once red-hot real estate sector by implementing the following reforms:

Owners who have owned their home for two or more years can now sell it without paying business taxes. Owners previously had to wait five years before selling their home tax-free. Owners who have owned their home for less than two years will now only be required pay taxes on their profit, not the total sales price. ...

The following article discusses Pulte Homes, Inc. (PHM), D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI), The Ryland Group, Inc. (RYL) and Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (BZH).In November, both housing starts and permits fell to record lows. I consider this to be good news, since it represents a decline is misallocation of resources and means we might eventually work off some of the huge inventory overhang and some day see an end to the housing mess that is ground zero of the economic turmoil.In the meantime, though, it means that economic growth will be even weaker in the fourth quarter than most are currently expecting. Building permits, the best indicator of future housing starts, fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 616,000, a 15.6% decline from the 730,000 rate in October and 48.1% below the 1,187 million rate of a year ago.All four regions of the ...

The planet is facing a topsoil crisis, meaning that the greatest commodity of them all one day could be farmland. That potentially makes Cresud Inc. (NASDAQ: CRESY), which owns large swathes of farmland in Argentina and also has a growing presence in both Paraguay and Brazil, a sound long for punters. Additionally, the firm is currently involved in a variety of other projects including crop production, cattle raising and milk production, not to mention real estate accumulation (several shopping centers in Buenos Aires, for instance). In fact, while it is estimated that the firm owns about a million acres of farmland and 50,000 head of cattle, Guy Bennett of Q1 Publishing, an investment research firm, mentioned that Cresud’s executives consider themselves to be primarily a real estate development company. But all this diversity may not necessarily be a ...

Since December 1998, EV Rentals Cars (EVTP.OB) has continued to expand to meet the growing green trend. EV Rental is the only rental company in the United States that offers a fleet containing only environmentally-friendly hybrid-electric vehicles. Currently, the company has rental facilities at 8 major airports including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. The company is on a mission to provide the most advanced green vehicles to the public and to raise the public’s awareness of the benefits of driving clean-fuel cars to increase the demand for these environmentally-conscious vehicles. EV Rental is led by an experienced team of professionals who are conscientiously growing the company and its fleet.

The idea to create EV Rental hit Jeffrey Pink in 1997 when he saw an aerial view of Los Angeles. The founder of the company saw the condition of the

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Despite severe economic turmoil, demand for oil is rising significantly—in fact, it will land somewhere in the range of $150 to $157, according to Roger Wiegand, editor of Trader Tracks. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Wiegand takes a close look at the untamed commodities bull and names some of his favorite buys.

The Energy Report: How does you think oil will play out in current economic scenario?

Roger Wiegand: The big sell-off during the past month or two was triggered when the funds bailed out. Roughly 50% of the CRB—the commodities index—is in oil. When oil moves, it moves the index. The sell-off brought oil down from a high of $147 to roughly $90. It bounced back up to $108 to $110; $108.50 is a good support and resistance level for oil today. The next price up should be $112.50, then $122.50, followed by a couple of more …

Seeing beyond the blind curves of bailouts and meltdowns takes the keen vision of a veteran market observer, Roger Wiegand, Editor of Trader Tracks. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Wiegand predicts a “severe bull market” for gold that will include both juniors and seniors. He advises selective buying and names several of his favorites.

The Gold Report: When we spoke in mid-July, at the height of the market, you predicted a major downward correction.

Roger Wiegand: The call was pretty accurate, although the oversell was surprisingly deep. The reason was the hedge funds had gotten into a position where they had to raise cash as crude oil was starting to sell with speed. Oil was a dominant part of their investment. When the price of crude oil fell swiftly, funds were forced to sell everything to cover investor redemptions. Now we’re at the bottom again, and prices are …