Shares Of Wabtec Leap On 1Q Surprise, '09 Forecast

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Wabtec Corp. leaped Wednesday after the railcar systems manufacturer reported first-quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, and an analyst lifted the stock to "Buy."

Also fueling investors optimism, the company reaffirmed its earnings prediction for the full-year.

The stock gained $4.72, or 15.3 percent, to $35.54 in afternoon trading.

The company, also known as Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp., said its quarterly profit inched up 0.5 percent to $32.7 million, or 68 cents per share, compared with $32.5 million, or 66 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 1.4 percent to $378 million from $383.3 million in the first-quarter of 2008.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecast a profit of 58 cents per share on sales of $385.4 million.

The company said that growth in its transit unit partially offset lower sales in its freight group. Wabtec also credited cost-cutting measures for its results.