Even if they go mostly unnoticed, industrial businesses are the backbone of our country. Still, their generally high capital requirements expose them to the ups and downs of economic cycles, and the market seems to be baking in a prolonged downturn as the industry has shed 1.8% over the past six months. This performance was discouraging since the S&P 500 returned 1.1%.

Investors should tread carefully as timing cyclical companies is a challenging task, and any misstep can have you catching a falling knife. Taking that into account, here are three industrials stocks that may face trouble.

Lindsay (LNN)

Market Cap: $1.42 billion

A pioneer in the field of center pivot and lateral move irrigation, Lindsay (NYSE: LNN) provides a variety of proprietary water management and road infrastructure products and services.

Why Are We Hesitant About LNN?

1. Organic sales performance over the past two years indicates the company may need to make strategic adjustments or rely on M&A to catalyze faster growth
2. Demand will likely be soft over the next 12 months as Wall Street’s estimates imply tepid growth of 5.8%
3. Falling earnings per share over the last two years has some investors worried as stock prices ultimately follow EPS over the long term

Lindsay is trading at $132.42 per share, or 21.5x forward price-to-earnings. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including LNN in your portfolio.

Astec (ASTE)

Market Cap: $812.3 million

Inventing the first ever double-barrel hot-mix asphalt plant, Astec (NASDAQ: ASTE) provides machines and equipment for building roads, processing raw materials, and producing concrete.

Why Should You Dump ASTE?

1. Annual revenue growth of 1.2% over the last two years was below our standards for the industrials sector
2. Estimated sales growth of 3.5% for the next 12 months is soft and implies weaker demand
3. Free cash flow margin shrank by 12.1 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive

At $37.44 per share, Astec trades at 14x forward price-to-earnings. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why ASTE doesn’t pass our bar.

Werner (WERN)

Market Cap: $1.99 billion

Conducting business in over a 100 countries, Werner (NASDAQ: WERN) offers full-truckload, less-than-truckload, and intermodal delivery services.

Why Should You Sell WERN?

1. Sales tumbled by 4% annually over the last two years, showing market trends are working against its favor during this cycle
2. Incremental sales over the last five years were much less profitable as its earnings per share fell by 26% annually while its revenue grew
3. Shrinking returns on capital suggest that increasing competition is eating into the company’s profitability

Werner’s stock price of $32.12 implies a valuation ratio of 26.4x forward price-to-earnings. If you’re considering WERN for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

Stocks We Like More

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