Citi reports that railroad stocks might be hit hard as Wall Street starts to fret about the economy’s growth. Analyst Christian Wetherbee downgraded three rail stocks — CSX , Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific — to neutral from buy, saying in a note to clients Thursday that a slowing economy would hurt investors in those companies. With relative valuations improving in the last six month, rail stocks have been outperforming, while earnings growth expectancies are high. Wetherbee stated that this combination would likely reduce relative performance in an environment of decreasing demand. Citi says that a slow future for rail stocks doesn’t require an economic recession. Wetherbee said that while we aren’t in recession at all in the areas covered, it is a situation in which the US doesn’t experience one, and consumer spending shifts to services. Those three stocks are all down sharply for the year, but CSX and Union Pacific have held up better than the S & P 500. Below are the changes in price targets and upside as a result of the downgrades. CSX Corp.: to $35 from $45, upside of 8.3% Norfolk Southern: to $260 from $345, upside of 9.4% Union Pacific: to $235 from $287, upside of 4.4% — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
