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Buy These 3 Equipment & Leasing Stocks to Boost Your Portfolio

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The Zacks  Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry currently stands to benefit from the solid investor-friendly steps. Consistent shareholder-friendly initiatives in the form of dividend payouts or share buybacks imply solid financial strength of companies in the Equipment and Leasing industry. Such moves boost investors’ confidence and positively impact the bottom line.

Notably, the industry has risen 15.7% compared with the Zacks S&P 500 Composite’s northward movement of 10.6% and the Zacks Transportation sector’s growth of 9.4%, over the past three months.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The buoyancy in the industry is further confirmed by its Zacks Industry Rank #98, which places it in the top 39% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

Investing in Equipment & Leasing Stocks: A Prudent Idea

Given this encouraging backdrop, we present three Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, operating as Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) , GATX Corporation (GATX - Free Report) and Trinity Industries, Inc. (TRN - Free Report) , which investors can bet on. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Apart from boasting a bullish Zacks Rank, these stocks have a solid expected earnings growth rate for the fourth quarter of 2023. These stocks have also witnessed upward estimate revisions in the past 90 days. Each stock has a market capitalization of more than $1 billion.

Wabtec: This Pittsburgh, PA-based company offers technology-based locomotives, equipment, systems, and services for the freight rail and passenger transit industries worldwide. Wabtec’s top-line performance continues to gain from solid growth across its Freight segment revenues.

Further, improved guidance for 2023 looks encouraging and raises optimism about this stock. For 2023, it now expects sales of $9.50-$9.70 billion (prior view: $9.25-$9.50 billion). Adjusted earnings per share are now estimated to be between $5.80 and $6.00 (prior view: $5.50 and $5.80). Management still anticipates strong cash flow generation, with operating cash flow conversion exceeding 90%.

Wabtec repurchased shares worth $252 million and paid $92 million in the form of dividend payments during the first nine months of 2023.

WAB has an expected earnings growth rate of 20% for fourth-quarter 2023. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WAB’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings has improved 2.6% over the past 90 days. WAB delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 7.11%, on average. WAB has gained 19.4% in the past three months.

WAB has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion. 

GATX: Headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX operates as a railcar leasing company in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and India. The gradual improvement in the North American railcar leasing market is aiding GATX’s top line. Demand for the majority of railcar types in GATX's fleet remains robust, and absolute lease rates have been increasing. GATX anticipates full-year 2023 earnings to modestly exceed the high end of its prior guidance of $6.50–$6.90 per share.

GATX has been paying regular dividends since 1919 and holds an impressive record with respect to dividends and buybacks. In January 2023, GATX raised its quarterly dividend by 5.8% to 55 cents per share. Its commitment to reward shareholders despite coronavirus-related disruptions is encouraging. Notably, 2023 marked the 105th consecutive year of GATX paying out dividends.

GATX has an expected earnings growth rate of 1.30% for fourth-quarter 2023. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GATX’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings has improved 7.6% over the past 90 days. GATX delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 16.49%, on average. GATX has gained 10.4% in the past three months.

GATX has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion. 

GATX Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

GATX Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

GATX Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | GATX Corporation Quote

Trinity: Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Trinity provides rail transportation products and services under the TrinityRail name in North America. Trinity is benefiting from its consistent shareholder-friendly initiatives to reward through dividend payments and share repurchases. During the first nine months of 2023, TRN rewarded its shareholders with $64.7 million in dividend payments (did not repurchase any shares during the said time frame).

In December 2023, TRN’s board of directors announced a dividend hike of almost 8%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend from 26 cents per share to 28 cents. The increased dividend, reflecting Trinity’s 239th consecutively paid dividend, will be paid out on Jan 31, 2024, to all its shareholders of record as of Jan 12, 2024.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TRN’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings has moved up 23.2% in the past 90 days. Its expected earnings growth rate for fourth-quarter 2023 is 56.82%. TRN has gained 9.2% in the past three months.

TRN has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion. 

Trinity Industries, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Trinity Industries, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Trinity Industries, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Trinity Industries, Inc. Quote

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