Hudson Downgrades Spartan Motors to Neutral (SPAR)

Hudson is out with its report today on Spartan Motors

, downgrading SPAR from Buy to Neutral. In a note to clients, Hudson writes, "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, there 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." Hudson maintains a $7 PT on SPAR. At the time of posting, shares of SPAR were trading at $6.83, down 0.42% from Tuesday's close.