Norfolk Southern 3Q profit soars, beats views

NEW YORK (AP) - Freight railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corp. said Tuesday surging coal revenue and improving efficiency drove its third-quarter earnings up 35 percent.

    The results came in well above Wall Street’s expectations. Shares jumped $3.33, or 6.2 percent, to $57.20 in aftermarket electronic trading. The stock finished the regular session down $1.99, or 3.6 percent, to $53.87.

    The Norfolk, Va.-based company earned $520 million, or $1.37 per share, compared with $386 million, or 97 cents per share.

    Revenue rose 23 percent to $2.89 billion, from $2.35 billion a year earlier.

    Thomson Reuters says analysts were expecting a profit of $1.21 per share on revenue of $2.76 billion.

    Coal revenue surged 52 percent to $876 million. Overall traffic fell 1 percent, as higher coal volumes countered sinking carloads of automobiles and housing-related products.

    The railway operating ratio - a key measure of efficiency for railroads - improved by 2 percentage points to 69.1 percent.

    As fuel costs leaped 64 percent from last year, overall costs during the quarter jumped 20 percent to $2 billion.

    Intermodal revenues rose 16 percent to $560 million. Intermodal business involves the transfer of freight from one method of transportation to another, such as truck to train.

    Norfolk Southern operates about 21,000 miles of track in 22 states and the District of Columbia.