UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Downgrades Greenbrier Companies to Hold Following Acquisition

Stifel Nicolaus reduced its rating on Greenbrier Companies GBX from Buy to Hold and removed its previous $18 price target. Stifel Nicolaus noted, "We are downgrading the common shares of The Greenbrier Companies from Buy to Hold since we no longer believe that the upside to owning the common shares of Greenbrier exceeds the downside. Our fair value estimate for Greenbrier's shares is $22 as we believe yesterday's offer price represents a full and fair value for the company's shares. The $22/share price values Greenbrier roughly in line with industry peers on 2013 P/E and 2013 EBITDA (the peers being TRN and ARII). Earlier this year, Greenbrier has traded at a steep (30%-40%+) discount to industry peers which we attribute to the company's financial leverage and high degree of cyclicality of its earnings." Greenbrier Companies closed at $20.61 on Wednesday.