Here's Why Investors Should Bet on Wabtec Stock Right Now

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies’ WAB, operating as Wabtec Corp, top line is benefiting from robust backlog growth, boosting the company’s performance. Moreover, shareholder-friendly initiatives are also encouraging, contributing well to its prospects. Due to these tailwinds, WAB shares have performed impressively on the bourse. If you have not taken advantage of its share price appreciation yet, it’s time to do so.

Let’s delve deeper.

Factors Favoring WAB Stock

Northward Earnings Estimate Revision: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share has been revised upward by 1.79% over the past 60 days for the current quarter. For 2025, the consensus mark for earnings per share has moved 1.95% north in the same time frame. The favorable estimate revisions indicate brokers’ confidence in the stock.

Robust Price Performance: A look at the company’s price trend reveals that its shares have rallied 16.3% over the past year, surpassing the  Zacks Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry’s 15.1% decline.

Positive Earnings Surprise History:Wabtec has a mixed earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in the remaining, delivering an average surprise of 5.41%.

Solid Zacks Rank:  Currently, WAB sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Bullish Industry Rank: The industry to which Wabtec belongs currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49 (out of 245). Such a favorable rank places it in the top 20% of Zacks Industries.Studies show that 50% of a stock price movement is directly related to the performance of the industry group to which it belongs.

A mediocre stock within a strong group is likely to outperform a robust stock in a weak industry. Reckoning the industry’s performance becomes imperative in this context.

Growth Factors: Wabtec's top line is on the rise as its growing backlog signals a bullish outlook. The company’s 12-month backlog rose 11.9% year over year to $876 million, reflecting robust short-term demand and improving revenue visibility for the second quarter of 2025. At the same time, the expansion of its multi-year backlog to $247 million strengthens its long-term growth pipeline. By steadily building both near and long-term backlog, Wabtec is positioning itself for sustained revenue growth and operational stability.

Wabtec has consistently demonstrated its commitment to creating shareholder value through regular dividends and share repurchases. In 2021, the company returned $92 million in dividends and $300 million in share buybacks. These figures rose to $111 million and $473 million in 2022, and $123 million and $409 million in 2023.

The momentum accelerated in 2024, with Wabtec delivering a record $1.2 billion to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. Reinforcing this shareholder-focused strategy, the company approved a 25% dividend increase in the fourth quarter of 2024, raising the dividend to $0.25 per share effective March 7, 2025. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, Wabtec paid $44 million in dividends and repurchased $50 million worth of its shares.

Other Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the Transportation sector may also consider LATAM Airlines Group LTM and SkyWest SKYW.

LTM currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

LTM has an expected earnings growth rate of 45% for the current year. The company has a mixed earnings surprise history. Its earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, missed once and met in the remaining one, delivering an average beat of 4.04%.

SKYW currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

SkyWest has an expected earnings growth rate of 28.06% for the current year. The company has an encouraging earnings surprise history. Its earnings topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average beat of 21.92%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research