Apollo Education, Cabelas, PulteGroup: What Is Happening To These Falling Stocks?

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB) is off by 4.2% after reporting third quarter earnings of $1.04 per share on revenue of $810 million. Earnings were in-line with estimates while revenue missed by $36.71 million. Revenue was soft because of weak global economic activity while earnings were in-line because management did a good job controlling costs. Income from operations accounted for a record 18.8% of sales, versus 17.1% of sales a year earlier. Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB) repurchased 237,027 shares in the quarter and still has around $151 million left from the board-approved repurchase authorization. Management reaffirmed 2015 earnings guidance of $4.10 per share along with revenue growth of 9% for the full year. All-in-all, not a bad quarter. If crude prices rise, rail activity will strengthen and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (NYSE:WAB) shares will rally.  The company could pay a higher dividend however.

PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM)‘s shares have fallen by 6.68% after the home builder reported third quarter earnings of $0.33 per share on revenues of $1.51 billion, missing estimates by $0.10 per share and $260 million, respectively. Analysts had high expectations after the Wall Street Journal reported U.S home builder confidence was at its highest level since November 2005 and that the U.S economy remained strong. Apparently, the expectations were too high, as PulteGroup’s ASP inched up by just 1% to $336,000 while gross margin increased by 0.7 percentage points to 23.6%. Total backlog was $3.1 billion, up by 18% year-over-year while the company repurchased 5.9 million shares.

Of the 730 elite funds we track, 27 owned $542.69 million of the company’s shares (representing 7.40% of the float) on June 30, versus 29 funds holding $773.64 million worth of stock  on March 31. George Soros‘ Soros Fund Management owned 3.17 million shares at the end of June.

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