Shaers of The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) have been recommended as a long term growth pick according to Beta Research.  With the firm’s stock price currently trading around $29.42, the firm has proven a solid track record of growth over the past few years.  Investors might consider the stock as a long term growth candidate as the firm has yielded 62.50% earnings per share growth over the past 5 years and 7.50% revenue growth over that same time frame. 

One of the biggest mistakes that can plague the individual investor is not setting up an overall investment plan. Investors may want to start out be setting up an outline of overall goals. Having goals can eventually make the day to day investing decisions at little bit easier over time. Once a plan is in place, investors can then spend more time focusing on the proper stocks to add to the portfolio. Dedicating time for extensive stock research may not be easy, but it may put the investor in a better position. Some investors will go to greater lengths, such as making sure that they have a good reason behind every buy or sell decision. This process may seem unnecessary to some, but it may help the investor stay focused when the market gets choppy and tough decisions need to be made.

Long-term growth (LTG) is an investing strategy where a stock will (hopefully) grow in value for a relatively long period of time.  Long-term growth should be considered to be a relative term, due to different styles and goals of investors, but the endgame is the same. 

A “buy-and-hold” investor will consider long-term growth as a longer time period then a day trader will. The buy-and-hold strategy looks ahead farther into the future, giving short-term price swings less consideration as long as the fundamentals stay the same.  A trader is looking more closely at a weekly, or shorter, time frame and is more interested in immediate price fluctuations.

Recent Performance

Let’s take a look at how the stock has been performing recently.  Over the past twelve months, The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX)’s stock was -25.59%.  Over the last week of the month, it was -6.66%, -30.27% over the last quarter, and  -32.62% for the past six months. 

Over the past 50 days, The Greenbrier Companies, Inc.’s stock is -23.58% off of the high and 0.79% removed from the low.  Their 52-Week High and Low are as follows: -54.65% (High), 0.79%, (Low). 

Analyst Recommendation

Despite the past success, investors want to know where the stock is headed from here.  Analysts covering the shares have a consensus short-term price target of $40.00 on the equity.   Analysts have a consensus recommendation of 2.60 based on a 1 to 5 scale where 1 represents a Strong Buy and 5 a Strong Sell.  

Looking at the current landscape of the equity market, investors may be doing some bargain hunting for stocks to add to the portfolio. Many sharp investors will welcome temporary market dips which may provide plenty of buying opportunities. Being prepared for these types of opportunities can help the investor make quick decisions in the midst of a downturn. As we move closer to the close of the year, investors will be closely watching the next round of company earnings reports. Even if the individual investor chooses to trade conservatively during earnings, they can still do the necessary research and have stocks lined up to purchase when the time is right.

There is no shortage of financial news and opinions as we live in the age of the 24 hour news cycle. Headlines and expert opinions seem to be around every corner when dealing with the stock market. Trying to keep up with all the swirling news can make ones head spin. Even though there may be some significant news mixed in, a lot of the headlines may not be worth paying much attention to. Figuring out what information is useful may take some time for the investor to figure out. Once the filter is in place, investors may find it much easier to focus on the important data. Making investment decisions solely based on news headlines may end up causing the portfolio to suffer down the line.

Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and information expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any company stakeholders, financial professionals, or analysts. Examples of analysis performed within this article are only examples. They should not be utilized to make stock portfolio or financial decisions as they are based only on limited and open source information. Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of any analysts or financial professionals.