BUSINESS BRIEFING / EARNINGS

Home builders Toll Bros. Inc. and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. reported lower second-quarter losses.

Toll Brothers of Horsham, Pa., lost $83.2 million, or 52 cents a share, on sales of $398.3 million in the quarter ended April 30. The results were in line with analysts’ estimates and slightly better than the loss of $93.7 million, or 59 cents a share, on $818 million in sales a year earlier.

Hovnanian, based in Red Bank, N.J., reported it cut its second-quarter loss to $118.6 million from a loss of $340.7 million a year earlier.