While Fools should generally take the opinion of Wall Street with a grain of salt, it's not a bad idea to take a closer look at particularly stock-shaking upgrades and downgrades -- just in case their reasoning behind the call makes sense.
What: Shares of Deckers Outdoor Corp (DECK -5.31%) rallied 1% today after Citigroup initiated coverage on the footwear specialist with a buy rating.
So what: Along with the bullish call, analyst Corinna Van Der Ghinst planted a price target of $94 on the stock, representing about 19% worth of upside to Friday's close. So while momentum traders might be turned off by Deckers' year-to-date price sluggishness, Van Der Ghinst's call could reflect a sense on Wall Street that its long-term growth prospects are now too cheap to pass up.
Now what: According to Citi, Deckers' risk/reward trade-off is rather attractive at this point. "We see upside to shares leading into the co's analyst day this fall (its 1st since '08) as well as LT momentum behind UGG's global expansion & diversification plans, driving our forecast of a +14% EPS CAGR on +10% revs over the next 3yrs," said Van der Ghinst. "While we remain cautious on lack of input cost visibility & cont'd seasonality risk beyond investor day, we believe these concerns are largely priced in at current levels." When you couple that upbeat outlook with Deckers' cash-rich balance sheet and forward P/E in the low teens, it's easy to understand Citi's bullishness.
