CSX profit slips in Q4 but railroad hauls 4% more freight
CSX railroad reported relatively flat fourth-quarter earnings even though it hauled 4% more freight as the economy continued to rebound from last year’s widespread virusrelated shutdowns.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said Thursday it earned $760 million, or 99 cents per share, during the quarter. That was down slightly from $771 million, or 99 cents per share, a year earlier, but this quarter’s results were hurt by a $48 million charge related to the early retirement of debt. Without that, CSX would have reported earnings per share of $1.04.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1 per share.
The freight railroad posted revenue of $2.83 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.75 billion. The railroad said it cut its quarterly expenses 7% to $1.61 billion as fuel and labor costs both decreased.
Strong demand for deliveries of shipping containers - known as intermodal shipments - which were up 11%, helped offset weakness in nearly every other category of freight in the quarter. Volume was positive overall for the first time since before the pandemic began. In last year’s second quarter, volume fell 20% when many businesses were shut down as officials sought to limit the spread of COVID-19.
CSX CEO Jim Foote said he expects the economy and rail shipments to grow in 2021 - especially in the second half of the year - but it is hard to tell now how much growth there will be. Railroad officials said only that they expect volume to grow more than the overall U.S. economy - in terms of the gross domestic product - will this year. (AP)