UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Initiates Coverage on Wabash National Corporation on Stable Cyclical Outlook, Improving Margins

In a report published Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Alexander E. Potter initiated coverage on

with an Overweight rating and $18.00 price target. In the report, Piper Jaffray noted, “We are initiating coverage of Wabash National Corp. (WNC) with an Overweight rating and a $16 price target, based on 6x 2014 EV/EBITDA. WNC doesn't make the flashiest products, but somebody has to sell trailers for the highway freight market - and with ~20% market share, Wabash is the best of breed in this segment. WNC is well-managed and is positioned to benefit from 2-3 years of above-replacement trailer demand (due to a very old fleet and delayed orders in 2008-2010). This stable volume outlook, coupled with a maturing workforce and other factors, should enable 200+ bps of EBIT margin expansion by 2015. We think consensus does not reflect this potential.” Wabash National Corporation closed on Wednesday at $11.50.