Norfolk Southern Revenue Slips on Coal Weakness

By Angela Chen 

Norfolk Southern Corp. said its fourth-quarter earnings dropped and the railroad operator posted weaker-than-expected revenue as growth in its merchandise and intermodal markets was unable to offset weakness in its key coal segment.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern primarily transports raw materials such as coal and industrial products. The railroad has been hurt by capacity problems and pinch-points that depressed its service levels last year. It is in the process of getting 150 new locomotives, and hiring and training 1,453 new employees.

Norfolk Southern has finished or nearly completed three new infrastructure projects in the Chicago area and upper Midwest that will add capacity and flexibility to the railroad's Chicago-area operations. This year, the railroad plans to invest $2.4 billion to improve operational efficiency, said Chief Executive Wick Moorman.

For the December quarter, Norfolk Southern reported a profit of $511 million, down from $513 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings were unchanged at $1.64.

Revenue dropped less than 1% to $2.87 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $1.63 and revenue of $2.94 billion.

Coal revenue fell 15% to $543 million amid a weak export market and gas prices that have been low since they began tumbling late last year. In total, coal volumes were down 6%.

Intermodal revenue, or sales from the movement of freight by two or more modes of transportation, increased 5% to $649 million on stronger volume in domestic and international markets. General merchandise revenue grew 3% to $1.7 billion, led by revenue growth of 11% for chemicals.

In the past two weeks, rivals CSX Corp. and Kansas City Southern posted solid results with profits rising on strong demand.

Shares of Norfolk Southern, which edged down less than 1% in premarket trading, have risen about 17% in the past 12 months through Friday's close.

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