Wedbush Thinks Deckers Is Ready to Keep Running

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 popped 4% today after Wedbush upgraded the shoemaker from neutral, to outperform.

So what: Along with the upgrade, analyst Corinna Freedman boosted her price target to $74 per share (from $54), representing about 16% worth of upside to its Thursday close. Wedbush said that management's tone at a recent meeting was particularly positive, giving the analyst some comfort over its near-term sales estimates, long-term profit assumptions, and outlook for the UGG brand.

Now what: While Wedbush acknowledged that the call is a bit speculative, the stock's general risk/reward trade-off is certainly more attractive. "Over the longer term, we are incrementally more comfortable with our previous assumption of $5.00 in earnings power and our model now assumes that DECK could realistically achieve this by fiscal 2016," wrote Freeman in a note to investors. When you couple Deckers' red-hot stock price -- now up 130% from its 52-week lows -- with the competitive and inventory risks that remain, however, I'd hold out for a wider margin of safety before buying into that bullishness.

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The article Wedbush Thinks Deckers Is Ready to Keep Running originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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