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What happened
Shares of trailer manufacturer Wabash National Corporation (WNC 2.37%) fell as much as 12.1% on Tuesday after reporting third quarter earnings. At 1:15 p.m. EDT shares were down 11.7% on the day.
So what
Revenue fell 13% during the quarter to $464 million as shipments shrunk, but pricing offset the lost sales to improve the bottom line. Earnings actually rose slightly to $32.9 million on an adjusted basis and earnings per share of $0.50 beat estimates by $0.03.
What stuck out for investors was that trailer shipments were 15,450 in the quarter, at the low end of the 15,000 to 16,500 guidance management had given. And 2016 shipments overall are expected to be on the low end of the 60,000 to 62,000 range management previously gave.
Now what
Investors never like it when a company misses expectations and that’s why shares are down so much Tuesday. But taking a step back, investors should be happy that margins are on the rise and the company is still making a lot of money. From a value perspective, shares are still trading at just 6.2 times trailing earnings, so there’s a lot of pessimism priced into the stock.
The selloff in shares is harsh given the small shipments miss and great value in the stock. Long-term investors should see this as a bump in the road, not a reason to get out of the trailer business altogether.
