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Here's Why Investors Should Invest in Wabtec (WAB) Stock Now

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Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, operating as Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) ), continues to benefit from its consistent shareholder-friendly initiatives and strength across its Freight and Transit segments.

Bullish 2024 guidance looks encouraging and raises optimism about the stock.

Against this backdrop, let’s look at the factors that make this stock an attractive pick.

What Makes WAB an Attractive Pick?

An Outperformer: A glimpse at the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run on the bourse year to date. Shares of WAB have gained 24.7% so far this, outperforming the industry’s surge of 17.2%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Solid Zacks Rank: WAB has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Our research shows that stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best investment opportunities. Thus, the company is a compelling investment proposition at the moment.

Northward Estimate Revisions: The direction of estimate revisions serves as an important pointer when it comes to the price of a stock. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter 2024 earnings has moved up 6.8% in the past 90 days. For 2024, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has moved up 2.5% in the past 90 days.

Earnings Expectations: Earnings growth and stock price gains often indicate a company’s prospects. For third-quarter 2024, WAB’s earnings are expected to grow 9.41% year over year. For 2024, WAB’s earnings are expected to grow 26.01% year over year.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Wabtec has an encouraging earnings surprise history.The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters (missed the mark in the remaining quarter), delivering an average surprise of 11.83%.

Growth Factors: Wabtec’s top line is benefiting from higher sales across its Freight and Transit segments. While the Freight segment benefits from growth in services and components, the transit segment gains from strong aftermarket and original equipment manufacturing sales.

WAB is expected to continue its strong performance due to strong underlying demand and a robust backlog. Driven by this encouraging backdrop, management updated its current-year revenues and earnings per share (EPS) guidance. Wabtec tweaked its 2024 adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $7.20-$7.50 from $7.00-$7.40 guided previously. Wabtec’s revenue guidance remains unchanged in the $10.25-$10.55 billion band.

Other Stocks to Consider

A couple of other top-rankedstocks from the Zacks Transportation sector are C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW - Free Report) and Kirby Corporation (KEX - Free Report) . While C.H. Robinson sports a Zacks Rank #1, KEX presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CHRW has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters (missed the mark in the remaining quarter), delivering an average surprise of 7.33%.

CHRW has an expected earnings growth rate of 22.42% for 2024. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHRW 2024 earnings has been revised 11.3% upward over the past 90 days. Shares of CHRW have gained 14.3% so far this year.

KEX has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 8.73%.

KEX has an expected earnings growth rate of 42.47% for 2024. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KEX 2024 earnings has been revised 1.5% upward over the past 90 days. Shares of KEX have gained 44.9% so far this year.


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