Wallstreeters are wondering if billionaire investor, Carl Icahn, has set his sights on an amalgamation between Navistar and Oshkosh. Icahn, has a history of buying positions in companies he considers to be underperforming and then pushing for change.


In a regulatory filing Thursday, Icahn said he acquired 9.8% of Navistar stock on "the belief that the shares were undervalued at current levels." Icahn, now the second largest single shareholder in Navistar, has said he wants to meet with company executives to discuss business strategies and the possibility of adding Icahn-backed directors to the company's board, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Icahn acquired a 9.5% stake in Oshkosh in June, but so far has made no public moves toward making any changes at that company.

Icahn's specific intentions for Navistar or Oshkosh aren't readily apparent, but the notoriously uneven demand for trucks and both companies' shrinking stock prices lately could provide a push for Icahn as he pursues changes to raise the value of the companies' shares.

Some analysts say Icahn could be considering a merger between the two truck makers to create a larger company, particularly for military trucks. The benefits of such a merger would likely to take several years to realize and would depend on a broad-based recovery in demand for Oshkosh's specialty trucks, notes WSJ.

Navistar and Oshkosh have seen several turbulent quarters, and the performance of both companies has been described recently as disappointing.

Oshkosh's trucks are primarily specialty vehicles, such as cement mixers, ambulances, fire trucks and military trucks. The collapse of U.S. housing construction and sharp reductions in spending by state and local governments have choked off demand for Oshkosh's specialty vehicles, forcing the company to pursue military trucks sales.

Shortages of parts eroded Navistar's profit last quarter and investors' concerns about weakening U.S. economic growth in 2012 have weighed down the stock. Navistar's shares have fallen 28% since the beginning of the year, compared to a 3% decline in the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The stock, which is off 42% from its 52-week high, trades at an anemic multiple of about 6 times projected 2012 earnings. The stock Friday closed up 7.3% at $41.51 a share, reports the Wall Street Journal.