Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Wabtec, AerCap and Air Lease

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 20, 2026 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Wabtec Corp. WAB, AerCap Holdings N.V. AER and Air Lease Corp. AL.

Industry: Transportation Equipment

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2886688/3-stocks-from-the-transport-equipment-leasing-industry-to-watch

The Zacks Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry is currently navigating a challenging macroeconomic environment. The industry grapples with challenges due to persistent inflation, tariff-related tensions and lingering supply-chain disruptions. Geopolitical woes represent further challenges.

Despite the challenging macroeconomic conditions, industry players such as Wabtec Corp., AerCap Holdings N.V. and Air Lease Corp. stand out for their solid investor-friendly steps. Notably, 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.

Industry Overview

The Zacks Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry includes companies offering equipment financing as well as leasing and supply-chain management services. The industry includes aircraft, railcar and intermodal container lessors. Some of these companies even provide logistics and transportation solutions, such as vehicles, drivers, management and administrative services.

Most industry participants offer fleet management solutions and serve customers, varying from small businesses to large international enterprises. Customers range from a wide variety of industries, the most significant being automotive, electronics, transportation, grocery, lumber and wood products, food service and home furnishing. A few of these companies provide locomotives and technology-based equipment, systems and services to freight rail and passenger transit industries.

Factors Deciding the Industry's Outlook

Strong Financial Returns for Shareholders: With economic activities gaining pace from the pandemic lows, more and more companies are allocating their increasing cash pile through dividends and buybacks to pacify long-suffering shareholders. This underlines their financial strength and confidence in the business. Among the Transportation – Equipment and Leasing industry players, on Feb. 6, 2026, Wabtec's board of directors approved a dividend hike of 25%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to 31 cents per share ($1.24 annualized) from 25 cents ($1.00 annualized). The raised dividend was paid out on March 2, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 17.

Economic Uncertainty Remains: Tariff tensions have led to escalated trade woes across the globe. These tariff-induced economic uncertainties do not bode well for industry participants. With inflation remaining a concern, risks associated with an economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions dampen the prospects of stocks belonging to this industrial cohort. Sluggish economic growth and inflationary woes are likely to make markets more volatile in the coming days. Ongoing economic uncertainty does not bode well for industry players.

Supply-Chain Disruptions & Weak Freight Rates: Although economic activities picked up from the pandemic gloom, lingering supply-chain disruptions continue to dent stocks in the industry. Increased operating costs are also limiting bottom-line growth. Due to supply-chain troubles, costs will likely continue to be steep in the future. Below-par freight rates are also hurting the industry's prospects. Highlighting the weak freight demand, the Cass Freight Shipments Index declined 7.2% year over year in February 2026 and 7.1% in January 2026. This measure has deteriorated year over year in each of the past 12 months in 2025, which confirms the overall declining trend.

Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Gloomy Prospects

The Zacks Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry, housed within the broader Zacks Transportation sector, currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #191. This rank places it in the bottom 22% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The group's Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates dull near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

The sell-side analysts covering the companies in this industry have been decreasing their estimates. On a year-over-year basis, the industry's consensus earnings estimate for the current year has decreased 40.5%.

Before we present a few stocks that investors can buy or retain, given their growth prospects, let's take a look at the industry's recent stock market performance and current valuation.

Industry Lags S&P 500 & Sector

The Zacks Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry has underperformed the Zacks S&P 500 Composite as well as the broader sector over the past year.

Over this period, the industry has gained 17.8% compared with the S&P 500 Index's northward movement of 21.9%. The broader sector has gained 11.2%.

Industry's Current Valuation

On the basis of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E- F12M), a commonly used multiple for valuing equipment and leasing stocks, the industry is currently trading at 12.45X, compared with the S&P 500's 21.63X. It is also below the sector's P/E (F12) ratio of 13.74X.

Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 15.65X, as low as 8.42X and at the median of 11.66X.

3 Transport Equipment Leasing Stocks to Watch Now

We are presenting three stocks that are well-positioned to grow in the near term.

AL: Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, Air Lease operates as an aircraft leasing company engaged in purchasing and leasing commercial jet aircraft to airlines worldwide. Air Lease's focus on long-term customer partnerships, prudent risk management and strategic fleet planning has positioned it as a trusted partner across the aviation industry.

With a diversified customer base spanning numerous countries and a robust order book from major manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus, Air Lease continues to demonstrate resilience, innovation and long-term value creation in the dynamic global aviation market. Efforts to reward its shareholders reflect the company's financial bliss. Higher lease rates and longer lease terms are also aiding the company.

AL's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark in the remaining quarter, delivering an average beat of 14.58%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AL's 2026 earnings has moved up by 5.04% over the past 60 days. AL's expected earnings growth rate for 2026 is 14.06%. Air Lease carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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 focus on new technologies to improve safety and reliability, together with its restructuring actions and cost-cutting initiatives, looks impressive.

Its strong free cash flow generating ability helps in consistently rewarding its shareholders through dividend payouts and share buybacks. We believe such shareholder-friendly initiatives should boost investor confidence and positively impact the company's bottom line.

WAB has an impressive earnings surprise history. Wabtec's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 5.76%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WAB's 2026 earnings has been revised 1.78% upward over the past 60 days. WAB has an expected earnings growth rate of 14.94% for 2026. Wabtec has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

AerCap: Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, AerCap Holdings N.V. engages in the lease, financing, sale, and management of commercial flight equipment in the United States, China and internationally. AerCap serves nearly 300 customers around the globe with comprehensive fleet solutions. The company's shareholder-friendly initiatives in the form of dividend payments and share repurchases should boost investor confidence and positively impact the bottom line.

AerCap has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 29.08%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AerCap's 2026 earnings has been revised 2.52% upward over the past 60 days. AER has an expected earnings growth rate of 24.38% for 2026. AER has a Zacks Rank #3.

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Air Lease Corporation (AL): Free Stock Analysis Report

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Aercap Holdings N.V. (AER): Free Stock Analysis Report

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