Horton hears a loss

That would be D.R. Horton, hearing the sound of a monstrous second-quarter loss.

Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton Inc. posted a loss of $1.31 billion, or $4.14 per share, compared with year-ago profit of $51.7 million, or 16 cents per share. The latest period, reported Tuesday, includes pretax write-down charges of $834.1 million.

Throw out the tax writeoffs and Horton STILL lost a cool $500 mil, or more than a buck-fifty a share.

Surprisingly, the stock was trading UP about 50 cents a share, in the 16.50 range today. That’s after it opened at 15.36 after yesterday’s 15.97 close.