# How Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/wab
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on WAB alone. It places WAB (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation) against 9 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where WAB stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: WAB's full trading record, from June 1995 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** WAB has outpaced the market, rising 10.1% over the past 3 months against 3.9% for the S&P 500 and 3.2% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Stock or market?:** WAB held up far better than its industry: it rose 10.1% over the past 3 months while the industrial machinery ETF XLI (State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF) fell 6.1%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, WAB rose 45.3% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (189% against 89.3%).
- **Long term:** WAB turned $10,000 into $36,400 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. On the flip side, the past 5 years have been the better stretch: WAB rose 212% against 81.7% for the S&P 500, after trailing over the decade.
- **In a crash:** WAB fell harder than the S&P 500 in five of seven sell-offs. The 2022 bear market was the exception: WAB fell 18.9%, less than the S&P 500's 24.5%.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, WAB has a correlation of 0.62 over 5 years, more closely than 93% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is more of the same, not a cushion. Over 10 years, WAB's beta versus the S&P 500 was 1.28: in the S&P 500's rising months it gained 1.1 times as much as the index, and in falling months it lost 1.3 times as much.
- **Better options**
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** ESLT (Elbit Systems, aerospace & defense) earned more for the risk it took than WAB over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 35.4%, against 64.1% for WAB.
  - **Whole market:** Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WAB with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them CAH (Cardinal Health) and EPU (iShares MSCI Peru and Global Exposure ETF).

## How much would $10,000 in WAB have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in WAB over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of WAB over the same span and WAB's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in WAB at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $275,358 by September 2026, more than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of WAB, and ESLT finished highest, at $1,652,837.

## WAB at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- WAB's deepest decline since it began trading in 1995 was 71.8%, from April 1998 to October 2000. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, WAB's best was 1997, when it returned 104%, and its worst was 2000, when it lost 33.5%. It lost money in seven of those years.
- WAB is 7.1% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Industrials (Railroads)
- Trading since: June 16, 1995
- Market value: $48B
- Volatility (5 years): 26.2%; Sharpe ratio: 1.00
- Worst decline ever: −71.8%, from April 16, 1998 to October 18, 2000; back at its high by January 24, 2006

| Period | WAB total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +0.1% |
| 3 months | +10.1% |
| 6 months | +7.6% |
| year to date | +31.6% |
| 1 year | +45.3% |
| 3 years | +189% |
| 5 years | +212% |
| 10 years | +264% |

## WAB against the whole market

Where WAB ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does WAB rank among all stocks?

This section ranks WAB on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), WAB ranks in the top 3% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | WAB | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +45.3% | 629 of 3,287 (top 20%) |
| 3-year return | +189% | 440 of 3,017 (top 15%) |
| 5-year return | +212% | 289 of 2,893 (top 10%) |
| 10-year return | +264% | 675 of 2,202 (top 31%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 26.2% | 424 of 2,893 (top 15%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.00 | 97 of 2,893 (top 4%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −64.1% | 1,048 of 2,187 (top 48%) |

### What has beaten WAB on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- One stock and one ETF worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than WAB over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is fewer than 1% of the 3,633 screened. Few investments beat it on both counts.
- Among those with at least half WAB's swings, CAH has the best return for its risk: 42.1% a year at 24.7% volatility, 6% less than WAB's 26.2%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.55 against 1.00 for WAB.

### Is there a better investment than WAB?

The table below lists investments that beat WAB over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, ESLT (aerospace & defense) earned more for the risk it took than WAB over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 35.4%, against 64.1% for WAB.
- Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WAB with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them CAH and EPU.

The 2 strongest of 2 investments that beat WAB over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 10Y return | Correlation with WAB | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WAB: Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (this page) |  | +25.6% | 26.2% | 1.00 | −64.1% | +264% |  |  |
| [CAH](https://easycompare.io/research/cah): Cardinal Health, Inc. | Health Care Distribution | +42.1% | 24.7% | 1.55 | −46.1% | +349% | 0.33 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| EPU: iShares MSCI Peru and Global Exposure ETF | International | +29.5% | 24.9% | 1.17 | −51.0% | +275% | 0.53 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline |

## WAB against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against WAB, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do WAB's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the nine popular alternatives earned more than WAB over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Over the past 5 years, WAB returned 25.6% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (26.2% against 17.1%).

### Has WAB consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares WAB with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- None of the nine popular alternatives outperformed WAB in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was CSX.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of WAB | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WAB: Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (this page) | +45.3% | +189% | +212% | +264% |  |  | 1.00 |
| [CSX](https://easycompare.io/research/csx): CSX Corporation | +32.8% | +63.0% | +49.3% | +446% | 3/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.46 |
| [UNP](https://easycompare.io/research/unp): Union Pacific Corporation | +29.2% | +45.4% | +41.2% | +295% | 2/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.42 |
| [NSC](https://easycompare.io/research/nsc): Norfolk Southern Corporation | +13.8% | +72.0% | +29.5% | +328% | 1/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.33 |
| GATX: GATX Corporation | −5.1% | +59.5% | +79.2% | +329% | 0/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.59 |
| [CNI](https://easycompare.io/research/cni): Canadian National Railway Company | +30.2% | +21.9% | +3.1% | +124% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.14 |
| WABC: Westamerica Bancorporation | +35.1% | +48.8% | +30.3% | +70.1% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.34 |
| [CP](https://easycompare.io/research/cp): Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. | +15.1% | +25.6% | +21.6% | +227% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.28 |
| TRN: Trinity Industries, Inc. | −8.8% | +29.7% | +2.5% | +107% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.19 |
| GBX: The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. | −15.7% | −0.7% | −9.4% | +38.6% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.16 |

### How did WAB do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where WAB ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, WAB finished in the top quarter in ten of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in five. In 2025, it ranked 3 of 10.
- WAB finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 16 of its 29 full calendar years.
- Among its popular alternatives, CSX came out ahead of WAB most often, in 16 of the 29 years both traded.

| Year | WAB | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +13.2% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +50.1% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +28.0% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +9.1% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +26.5% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −5.2% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +11.5% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −13.3% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | −1.4% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +17.3% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How WAB has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were WAB's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all five of WAB's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: WAB fell 71.8% from April 1998 to October 2000, while the S&P 500 rose 24.6%.
- The slowest recovery came after WAB fell 71.8% from April 1998 to October 2000; it did not regain that peak until January 2006, five years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −71.8% | April 16, 1998 | October 18, 2000 | January 24, 2006 | +24.6% | dot-com bust |
| −64.1% | September 7, 2018 | March 20, 2020 | July 10, 2023 | −17.6% | late-2018 sell-off |
| −60.8% | August 28, 2008 | March 9, 2009 | March 28, 2011 | −46.9% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −54.3% | July 17, 1995 | December 6, 1995 | June 30, 1997 | +11.1% |  |
| −40.7% | July 30, 2015 | February 9, 2016 | June 6, 2018 | −11.1% | 2015 China and oil sell-off |

### How did WAB do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far WAB, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- WAB fell further than the S&P 500 in seven of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2015 China and oil sell-off, when WAB fell 40.5% and the S&P 500 fell 12.8%.
- Among its popular alternatives, UNP held up best, falling less than WAB in eight of the ten crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | WAB fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −33.7% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −60.8% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −2.4% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −26.1% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −40.5% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −2.9% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −37.9% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −48.3% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −18.9% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −6.4% | −3.4% |

### How closely does WAB move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Only GATX and CSX had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than WAB's 0.87, out of nine popular alternatives with the same record.
- GATX took just 107% of the S&P 500's losses, against 127% for WAB, while still keeping 109% of its gains.
- Over the past 10 years, WAB captured 111% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 127% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.28. It amplified the market's moves in both directions.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WAB: Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (this page) | 111% | 127% | 1.28 |
| [CSX](https://easycompare.io/research/csx): CSX Corporation | 118% | 117% | 1.19 |
| [UNP](https://easycompare.io/research/unp): Union Pacific Corporation | 104% | 119% | 1.05 |
| [NSC](https://easycompare.io/research/nsc): Norfolk Southern Corporation | 123% | 147% | 1.30 |
| GATX: GATX Corporation | 109% | 107% | 1.08 |
| [CNI](https://easycompare.io/research/cni): Canadian National Railway Company | 80.0% | 105% | 0.89 |
| WABC: Westamerica Bancorporation | 47.0% | 64.0% | 0.63 |
| [CP](https://easycompare.io/research/cp): Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. | 96.0% | 113% | 1.00 |
| TRN: Trinity Industries, Inc. | 110% | 165% | 1.38 |
| GBX: The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. | 124% | 211% | 1.50 |

### What diversifies WAB?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in WAB into DXJ would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 15% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+27.9% for WAB alone, +28.1% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, EWP and SMH have moved largely independently of WAB over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.49 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- MCK made money in four of the seven calendar years in which WAB lost money.

| Investment | Correlation with WAB | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in WAB's 7 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.44 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 3 of 7 |
| EWP: iShares MSCI Spain ETF | 0.49 | +140% | 20.3% | 0.97 | 2 of 7 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.40 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 2 of 7 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.22 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 2 of 7 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.48 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 2 of 7 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.42 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 2 of 7 |
| MLPA: Global X - MLP ETF | 0.49 | +103% | 17.2% | 0.91 | 0 of 7 |
| EWT: iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF | 0.36 | +153% | 24.2% | 0.89 | 2 of 7 |

## Common questions

### What was WAB's worst drawdown?

WAB's deepest decline since it began trading in 1995 was 71.8%, from April 1998 to October 2000. It took about five years from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were WAB's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, WAB's best year was 1997, when it returned 104%. Its worst was 2000, with a return of -33.5%.

### Is there a better investment than WAB?

Looking beyond its popular alternatives, ESLT (aerospace & defense) earned more for the risk it took than WAB over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 35.4%, against 64.1% for WAB. Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WAB with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them CAH and EPU.

### Is WAB more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. WAB's volatility over the past 5 years was 26.2%, 1.5 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, WAB's return lands within 26.2% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is WAB's Sharpe ratio?

WAB's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.00, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so WAB earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is WAB with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, WAB's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.62 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against WAB instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a WAB holding.

### What are the best alternatives to WAB?

None of the nine popular alternatives we compared outperformed WAB in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about WAB's strength than about its alternatives.

### Did WAB outperform the S&P 500?

WAB finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 16 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +13.2%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did WAB do in stock market crashes?

WAB fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in three of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in seven. The clearest case was the 2015 China and oil sell-off, when WAB fell 40.5% and the S&P 500 fell 12.8%.

### What diversifies WAB?

These had a low correlation with WAB over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.44), EWP (correlation 0.49) and SMH (correlation 0.40); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.33), CLS (correlation 0.38) and MCK (correlation 0.29). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [CSX Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/csx)
- [Union Pacific (UNP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/unp)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/wab
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against WAB live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=WAB&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research