FreightCar America RAIL is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2024 results on March 12, after market close.

Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RAIL’s soon-to-be-reported quarter’s earnings has remained stable at 5 cents per share in the past 60 days.

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The consensus mark has surged 171.4% from fourth-quarter 2023 actuals. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $152 million, which indicates an improvement of 20% from the year-ago actuals. The transportation company delivered an earnings surprise of 60% in the third quarter of 2024.

Against this backdrop, let us check out the factors that are expected to have influenced RAIL’s December-quarter performance.

We expect upbeat railcar deliveries to have aided RAIL’s fourth-quarter 2024 performance. This fast-growing company has secured major orders of late and increased production capacity.  Owing to the company’s strong order activity and delivery performance, EBITDA is expected to have been strong in the December quarter.

Driven by the buoyant scenario, RAIL expects 2024 revenues between $560 million and $600 million. The mid-point of the range indicates 62%  increase year-over-year. RAIL’s efforts to contain costs and the resultant operational efficiency are expected to have aided bottom-line performance in the quarter to be reported.  The cost-saving efforts are likely to have boosted margins. However, geopolitical risks pose operational challenges and might hurt results. An update on the tariff concerns is also expected on the fourth-quarter conference call.

What Our Model Says About RAIL

Our proven model does not conclusively predict that RAIL will beat earnings this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP  and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here.

Earnings ESP: FreightCar America has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimates are both pegged at 5 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: FreightCar America currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

RAIL Stock’s Double-Digit Decline in Q4

Mainly due to the slowdown in economic growth, shares of RAIL have plunged 20.8% in the December quarter. However, the company’s performance in the October-December period was better than the Zacks Transportation—Equipment and Leasing industry.  RAIL’s price performance was worse than its fellow industry players, The Greenbrier Companies GBX and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation WAB, in the said period.

Q4 Price Comparison

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

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