Deckers Outdoor Corp.’s backlog is healthy and shows there is ‘life’ in the company, an analyst said Tuesday.

The maker of Uggs, the popular line of sheepskin boots and shoes, reported last week that its fourth-quarter profit rose 14 percent as revenue jumped 56 percent.

Yet some analysts worried about its inventory levels. On Friday, PiperJaffray analyst Jeffrey Klinefelter said excess inventory that will not likely be cleared until the middle of the year.

Lazard Capital Markets analyst Todd Slater, however, said Tuesday in a client note that the company’s backlog of orders is healthy.

In it annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Deckers reported its order backlog from wholesale customers and distributors as of Dec. 31, 2008, totaled about $240 million, up 41 percent from a year ago, when it was $170 million.

"Yesterday’s (annual report) release shows strong evidence of life," Slater wrote.

Based on the company’s expectation of 6 percent to 8 percent revenue growth in 2009 and Slater’s assumption that about 85 percent of revenue is wholesale, "this implies the company already has approximately 40 percent of its annual wholesale revenues in the bag," Slater wrote. "Few other companies have anywhere near this level of visibility, in our experience."

He reiterated his "Buy" rating on the stock and $85 price target.

Shares rose $1.68, or 4.5 percent, to $39.39 during midday trading. The stock has traded between $37.24 and $146.60 during the past 52 weeks.