Shares of Harley Davidson (HOG) are up $1.45, or 6.2%, at $24.74 after Citigroup (C) analyst Gregory Badishkanian this morning raised his rating on the stock from “Strong Sell” to “Hold,” citing retail data that suggests the company’s sales in Q3 will be better than expected.
Q3 “channel checks” show HOG sales probably declined only 15% to 20% in August, versus a 30% decline in July. That would add up to a drop of 25% for Q3, he believes, which would be an improvement from the 35% in the June-ending Q2, signalling that HOG may have “turned the corner” thanks to the improving economy. Badishkanian raised his target price on the stock to $26, up $12, and increased his 2010 and 2011 estimates by 20 cents, though his 2010 estimate of $1.20 is still below the average $1.29 estimate. Badishkanian says he’d like to see some trend of improving quarterly sales before recommending the shares.
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