** Bovis slides 9.1%, poised for biggest one-daydrop since Nov 2008 and at levels not seen since February, afterwarning operating margin in 2015 will only be marginally aheadof last year
** Sales rate, however, strengthened in the autumn salesperiod; since the beginning of September, co has achieved aweekly private sales rate 20% ahead of the prior year
** Peel Hunt -- rated as 5 stars for recommendation accuracyon Bovis, StarMine shows -- cuts TP to 1,040p v 1,120p (sharesnow c900p), rating "hold"; says performance on the margin fronthas come in below expectations (though acknowledges overallrevenue is there, or thereabouts, for this yr)
** Stock second-top faller on FTSE 250 andthird-most actively traded on index, with 2.5x the 90-day dailyavg volume through in under two hours
** Housebuilders weak across the board; Persimmon and Berkeley 2nd and 3rd top FTSE 100 fallersrespectively, both down 1.2%, with fellow blue-chips BarrattDevelopments and Taylor Wimpey both down 0.5%
** Barclays, however, says Bovis warning company specific;notes mix factors blamed for margin disappointment, inparticular planning delays on new higher-margin sites -- noother housebuilders cited these planning delays as a materialissue, it says
** Sector under pressure in past weeks amid concernvaluations too optimistic; Liberum flagged margin worries earlyNov (RM: aastha.agnihotri.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)