Axiom said in a note there is acute downside risk to the Street's 2017-2018 operating margin estimates for Trinity Industries Inc , going by its analysis of the past four U.S. rail industry down cycles. Defining the onset of the prior four U.S. rail industry down cycles, as the time when peak backlog begins to move lower, the firm delineated the previous four downcycles as: Q1'95-Q1'97Q4'98-Q1'02Q3'06-Q4'09Q4'14-present Making some observations concerning the previous two downturns, analyst Gordon Johnson said: The average cycle duration was 14 quarters, while the current downturn is only 10 quarters old.Beginning cycle industry backlog was up an average 35 percent off the prior cycle peak compared to 62 percent for the current down cycle. This lends credence to claims that the current down trends duration will break records.Beginning cycle industry orders were up an average 14 percent off the previous cycle peak compared to 74 percent for the current downturn.Source