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A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Norfolk Southern (NSC). Shares have added about 0.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Norfolk Southern due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.
Earnings Beat at Norfolk Southern in Q3
NSC's third-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding $1.6 from non-recurring items) of $3.25 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.10 and increased 22.6% year over year, owing to lower costs.
Railway operating revenues were $3.05 billion in the quarter under review, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.09 billion. The top line increased 2.7% year over year, with the Merchandise and Intermodal segments registering improvement in revenues.
Overall volumes increased 7%. Total revenue per unit dipped 4% year over year. Income from railway operations more than doubled to to $1.6 billion.
Railway operating expenses declined 34% on a year-over-year basis to $1.45 billion, primarily due to a double-digit decrease in expenses on fuel.
Norfolk Southern’s operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) on an adjusted basis improved to 63.4% in the third quarter from 69.1% in the year-ago quarter, mainly owing to lower costs. A lower value of the metric is desirable.
Segmental Performance of NSC
Merchandise revenues improved 3% year over year to $1.86 billion. Actual segmental revenues were lower than our estimate of $1.9 billion. Volumes, as well as revenue per unit increased 2% year over year.
Revenues from Intermodal improved 4% year over year to $763 million. Actual segmental revenues were lower than our projection of $765.1 million. While segmental volumes increased 9%, revenue per unit tumbled 5%.
Coal revenues came in at $427 million, down 2% year over year. Actual segmental revenues surpassed our projection of $423.1 million. Coal volumes improved 11% year over year. Revenue per unit declined 11% in the reported quarter.
Liquidity & Buyback
Norfolk Southern exited the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $975 million compared with $1.56 billion at the end of 2023. NSC had a long-term debt of $16.6 billion at the third-quarter end compared with $17.2 billion at the end of 2023.
The company did not repurchase any shares under its stock repurchase program in the third quarter of 2024.