At 8:57 a.m., the stock was up 4-3/4 pence to 73 pence, valuing the business at 470 million pounds.
The 444-store group said Howdens' sales in the first four trading periods of 2008, ending April 19, increased 11.0 percent and were up 5.9 percent on a same depot basis, which strips out the impact of new space.
The same depot outcome does, however, represent a slowdown from growth of 7.1 percent in the first two trading periods of 2008 to Feb. 24, reported May 1.
Analysts at house broker Dresdner Kleinwort reiterated their 'buy' recommendation and 160 pence price target, describing the group's current rating as "ludicrous".
They maintained their year to end-Dec. 2008 sales forecast of 859 million pounds and pretax profit forecast of 90 million pounds, up from 80 million pounds last year.
However, Nick Bubb, analyst at Pali International downgraded his recommendation from 'buy' to 'neutral' and cut his target price from 100 pence to 75 pence.
He called Howdens' recent trading "a minor miracle" but fears the shares will stay cheap, given the gloomy housing market outlook. james.davey@thomsonreuters.com jdd/slj
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