The Equifax data breach exposed financial data from 143 million users, and led to negative headlines and heavy criticism of Equifax (NYSE: EFX ), specifically, and of credit reporting companies, in general.

For investors, the key question is this - will the negative hit Equifax is taking this week hurt credit industry stocks in the long run?

Equifax stock is trading at about $93, down 35 percent from when the breach was disclosed Sept. 7. It's worth noting that EFX was trading at $145 per share in July, well before news of the data leak hit the streets.

Not helping matters for Equifax is the fact that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has announced an investigation into the matter, as shares of the credit scoring behemoth hit a two-month low.

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Is there a fallout for other credit scoring companies?

Yes, for now. Experian saw its stock fall in the past week, falling from $1, 529 per share to $1,457 per share. But the stock has rebounded after announced regulatory reforms in Brazil, which is a burgeoning market for the company. Meanwhile, Fair Isaac Corp. ( FICO ) saw its share price slide from more than $140 to $134 per share over the same time frame.

Another big credit reporting giant, TransUnion ( TRU ), saw its stock price fall from $47 to $42 in the week after the Equifax data breach was reported.

But will that negative scenario continue? Probably not, market observers say.

For starters, major stock market analytic firms believe that Equifax can contain the damage , and survive what, at first, appeared to be a major disaster.

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Morningstar equity analysts have cut their fair value estimates from $128 to $122 as it incorporates the potential impact of the data breach. In a new research note, analyst Brett Horn estimates that damage to Equifax will include a substantial fine, one-time resolution costs and longer-term costs to improve security. "However, we think the wide economic moat that surrounds the business is intact and will limit any long-term damage," Horn states.

While the Equifax news inflicted significant damage on the company's stock price, and issued collateral damage to other credit reporting firms , time should heal those share-price wounds, other experts say.

"The recent Equifax security breach has sent the company's stock on a downward spiral," says Andrew Denney, founder and CEO of Prosperity Financial Group in Springfield, Missouri. "The stock is down more than 30 percent since the data breach. Other credit monitoring stocks have felt the brunt as well. Transunion is down more than 10 percent and Experian has managed to get away unscathed."

As with any crisis, the initial blow is always the hardest, Denney says. "Investors worried about long-term profitability and people disgruntled with a company will make an exodus," he says. "We have seen this happen many times. Consider United Airlines ( UAL ) with David Dao, Volkswagen with cheating on emissions standards, Toyota ( TM ) with its faulty brakes, Wells Fargo ( WFC ) creating fake accounts, and BP ( BP ) with its infamous oil spill."

[See: 8 Times When You Should Sell a Stock .]

Most companies can recover from a public relations blunder, though. "These mistakes can create a unique window for investors to buy an excellent company at a discounted price," he adds. "After all, if you liked Equifax as an investment before the breach, why wouldn't you like it now that it's one-third cheaper?"

Denney says, "The adage buy low and sell high is the paramount rule for any investor in the market. We are always eager to rush to the store to buy our favorite items on sale, so why shouldn't we with our stock selections?"

Equifax is hardly out of the woods yet – and it's not even close. Lawsuits, continued negative public relations and ill will among 143 million customers are top-of-the-line problems that won't go away for a while , and likely never entirely. That's the case even as Equifax quickly tries to make amends.

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"Equifax appears to be moving quickly to remedy the situation by offering consumers a free one-year enrollment in their TrustedID Premier credit monitoring," says Jonas Sickler, director of operations at ConsumerSafety.org "This action could be enough to smooth things over for many of us, and it may even open the door to millions of paying customers in a year when the service is no longer free."

Still, there's the question of legal action against Equifax , Sickler says. "How many consumers will file suit, will the company settle, and if not, how big will the verdicts be?" he asks.

But due to legal boilerplate language in user contracts, angry consumers may see that Equifax isn't an easy company to sue.

[Read: The Outlook for Stocks for the Rest of 2017 .]

"While the Equifax hack has hit up to one in in two Americans, that does not mean one in two Americans will use the free security freeze service from Equifax, and that's for many reasons," says Ryan Satterfield, president of Planet Zuda, a cybersecurity firm, in Los Angeles and a longtime stock market trader. "One reason for that is that Equifax originally stated by using their services you were giving up your right to sue them for the data breach," he says.

In an ideal world, credit card reporting companies would be a great short sale proposition, but in reality, they are not going to be a very profitable short, Satterfield says.

"If they were I would've already personally shorted their stocks," he says.

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