Spartan Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAR)

15/50 crossover.

Niche market, recent orders from China, the only shining star in the automotive industry.

No clear direction and significant loss of intellectual capital.

Cities budgets are way over extended. Fire vehicles will need to be in disrepair before they will drop $250k on a new machine. Utilities are the companies short term hope.

pent up demand FEDEX , UPS, recovery

Everywhere there is excitement about Isuzu, which for the record will be approx. 4000 N-Series gas chassis per year. The fact is to date I have not seen any information about margins or gross revenue on this product. I assume this deal is far different than what was in Janesville with GM. Next, the EV market is stagnating due to lack of local government funds. Third, Spartan has yet to create a Class "C" chassis and factually, class "C" is outselling Class "A" for the first times in history. Utilimaster does not resolve issues with Chassis. After peeling back this onion, where are the facts of this stock over performing once you remove the rampant exuberance? Low debt is good, but the number one indicator of future performance is revenue, and SPAR is at about a 2002 level if you include Utilimaster which it obviously did not have in 2002. Subtract out Utilimaster, which is barely profitable, and the revenue numbers are quite low - and not in a position where Class A chassis will come back to support previous years revenue and based off my research, the 4,000+ N-Series will not even come close to approaching the days of 3,000+ motorhome chassis. If someone has better evidence please present it!

These guys are tenacious.

atvi

Poised to pop.

Trucks wear out...bad economy or not...sooner or later the orders will pick up, and those in at value priceswill reep great rewards.

In the current business climate, delivery truck and fire equipment purchases are being postponed. When business turns on, demand for Spartin's products will accelerate. The timing of recent entry into the delivery truck market will pay off.

undervalued

Should stay stable with current contracts, good fundamentals, will come back with economy next yr.

Well below book value. Company is making smart, quiet moves to set themselves up for success in the future...

Recovery will result in municipalities and other customers spending for its speciality vehicles.

Spartan motors, until recently, was trading at book value. It is a solid business, which is flexible, as evidenced by their ability to maintain profitability when their revenues tanked. Their revenues went down to the completion of military contracts and poor RV sales. Other categories of their business, such as firetrucks, actually have increased in 2009. With the newly won additional contracts with Fleetwood, their new non-emergency vehicle contract, their acquisition of Utilimaster, and the uptick in RV sales (per recent WSJ article), Spartan's upside potential is much more likely than downside potential (stocks don't typically trade much below their book value unless it is an extreme situation such as an impending bankruptcy). Plus if their are any additional military orders that come in, this stock will shoot through the roof. I think this stock will go to the low teens at some point. I bought in with real money at 5.23.

good financials, still paying a dividend despite a core product taking a hit (RVs)

low pe ..motley 5 star stock to pop .... survived recession

Good fundamentals, and emergency vehicles aren't going anywhere soon.