(Adds analysts’ estimates, outlook, shares)
July 24 (Reuters) – Canadian National Railway on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings as the railroad moved higher volumes of commodities including grains and fertilizers.
The company said it now expected adjusted earnings of C$5.30 to C$5.45 per share, compared with C$5.10 to C$5.25 per share estimated previously.
CN Rail also added another C$100 million to its capital budget, taking its total spending to C$3.5 billion for 2018, as it looks to invest in new rail cars.
U.S.-listed shares of the company were up 1.5 percent at C$86.21 in after-market trading.
Total carloads, the amount of freight loaded into cars during a specified period, rose 5.8 percent, while rail freight revenue per carload increased 3.9 percent, the company said in a statement.
CN Rail and smaller rival Canadian Pacific Railway have been investing in rail infrastructure to ease capacity constraints following a surge in demand from producers of grains and other commodities.
Even oil producers are increasingly using railroads to ship crude as production has exceeded pipeline capacity.
CN Rail said operating ratio, which measures operating costs as a percentage of revenue, increased to 58.2 percent from 57.5 percent a year earlier.
The company said earlier in the day that interim Chief Executive Officer Jean-Jacques Ruest would now head the company on a permanent basis.
Net income rose to C$1.31 billion ($995.82 million), or C$1.77 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from C$1.03 billion, or C$1.36 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned C$1.51 per share, topping analysts’ average estimate of C$1.38, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The Montreal-based company said revenue rose to C$3.63 billion from C$3.33 billion.
Rival CP Rail beat profit estimates last week, helped by higher shipments of commodities like grains and potash. ($1 = 1.3155 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Anirban Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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