NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Trinity Industries (TRN) - Get Report were up 4.11% to $31.01 in afternoon trading Wednesday after the Federal Highway Administration rejected claims from two guardrail industry professionals who said the rail transport company tried to mask problems in its roadway safety system.

The FHWA rejected the claims that Trinity tried to hide the defects by covertly developing a version of a shock-absorbing device that is less prone to malfunctioning, according to Bloomberg.

The administration's conclusion supports Trinity's stance that it has reported to the FHWA all "fabrication adjustments" to its ET-Plus guardrail system since 2005.

"There is no evidence in the data that there are multiple versions of the ET-Plus device" since it was modified in 2005, according to the administration's report.

The stock spiked just after 11 a.m. in the wake of the report.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates TRINITY INDUSTRIES as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate TRINITY INDUSTRIES (TRN) a BUY. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, notable return on equity, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and impressive record of earnings per share growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 1.3%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 32.3%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• TRINITY INDUSTRIES has improved earnings per share by 20.3% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, TRINITY INDUSTRIES increased its bottom line by earning $4.20 versus $2.34 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($4.33 versus $4.20).
• The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and greatly outperformed compared to the Machinery industry average. The net income increased by 22.5% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $112.80 million to $138.20 million.
• Current return on equity exceeded its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of strength within the company. Compared to other companies in the Machinery industry and the overall market, TRINITY INDUSTRIES's return on equity exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: TRN Ratings Report