FORT WORTH, Texas -- D.R. Horton Inc. said Friday its loss in its fiscal fourth quarter narrowed despite a plunge in revenue as the homebuilder wrote down fewer costs.

But the write downs were still wider than anticipated by Wall Street and the company's shares tumbled nearly 16 percent Friday afternoon, falling $1.91 to $10.34.

"We were looking for them to not have to write down as much inventory this quarter." said Robin Diedrich, an analyst with investment firm Edward Jones.

The loss for the quarter ended in September was $231.9 million, or 73 cents per share, compared with a loss of $799.9 million, or $2.53 per share, a year earlier.

Inventory writedown costs and other expenses totaled $192.6 million pretax in the latest quarter, versus $1.1 billion in 2008.

Revenue fell 42 percent to $1.01 billion from $1.75 billion.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast a quarterly loss of 30 cents per share on revenue of $1.11 billion.

D.R. Horton says sales orders during the quarter rose 26 percent from last year, but more foreclosures, high inventories and rising unemployment remain a challenge for the industry.

The Fort Worth, Texas, company said its net sales orders and backlog both rose during the quarter. Homes closed totaled 4,810, compared with 6,961 homes closed in the same quarter of fiscal 2008.

The homebuilder operates in 27 states in the East, Midwest, Southeast, South-central, Southwest and West regions of the U.S.