Wabash National Shares Revved Up: What You Need to Know (WNC)

Wabash National Shares Revved Up: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of truck-trailer manufacturer Wabash National (NYSE: WNC ) raced ahead by as much as 10.7% on big trading volume.

So what: The November tonnage report from the American Trucking Association showed seasonally adjusted truck loads rising 6% year over year. ATA's chief economist, Bob Costello, said that these numbers "point to an economy that is growing, not sliding into a recession."

Now what: Truck builder Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK ) and parts maker WABCO (NYSE: WBC ) also beat the market today thanks to the ATA report. Being a high-beta small cap with an 18% short-sale component, Wabash simply bounces faster than those lumbering giants -- just as it falls faster when the news is bad.

I'm not terribly interested in buying truck stocks, but that positive ATA report should be generally good news for the economy as a whole. When the trucks are rolling, factories are humming and consumers are buying.

Interested in more info about Wabash National? Click here to add it to My Watchlist.

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Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.

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