U.S. homebuilders seen as bargains at recession-level P/Es

Shares of U.S. homebuilders “look interesting” because they are already priced for recession, David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., wrote in a report Monday. The S&P Composite 1500 Homebuilding Index was valued at 8.8 times earnings on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price-earnings ratio was the fifth lowest of 148 industry groups in the Composite 1500, which combines the S&P 500 and two smaller-company indexes. Last month, the P/E slid to 7.9 -- the lowest since September 2007, three months before the last recession started.