American Railcar Industries Shares Dropped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of American Railcar Industries (NAS: ARII) slid 10% today after an analyst downgrade.

So what: KeyBanc Capital Markets was the culprit today, downgrading the stock from a buy rating to a hold. The company cited a shift to leasing as a reason it thought American Railcar would miss estimates in the near future.

Now what: The report didn't really expose any flaws in the business and instead focused on how analysts would probably be conservative with their estimates because of the modeling change in the leasing business. We Fools don't usually put a lot of faith in analysts, and this downgrade seems especially suspect. If you're a long-term investor, I wouldn't be afraid to look at this as a buying opportunity, because nothing about the investment thesis has changed, and now the stock is 10% cheaper today.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no position in any company mentioned. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings, or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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