Hudson Securities Downgrades Spartan Motors (SPAR)

Hudson Securities is downgrading shares of Spartan Motors

to Neutral, but is keeping its $7 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Hudson writes, "The stock has traded up significantly as excitement for the NGCV builds and cost reduction efforts take hold. Management remained consistent in its belief that total revenue will be flat to down in 2011 vs 2010 as the higher margin fire truck market will be down considerably, a likely factor in the stock decline in wake of results. The first six months of 2011 will be challenging for Spartan as contribution from NGCV starts in 3Q11 and should see high growth in 2012 as more and more customers take advantage of the operating cost savings that the vehicle has to offer. By 2012, the will likely also be a rebound in the fire truck market as municipal spending lags the economic recovery by at least a year. However, we feel that our estimates capture all this as does current valuation. We are therefore downgrading shares to NEUTRAL from BUY." Shares of SPAR closed at $6.86 yesterday.