Kansas City Southern Profit Rises 6.9%

Kansas City Southern said its first-quarter earnings rose 6.9% in the latest quarter as lower costs offset continued weakness in freight volume for certain commodities and the effect of a weaker peso.

Shares rose 4.9% to $96 in recent premarket trading as per-share earnings, excluding certain one-time items, beat expectations.

The Kansas City, Mo., company operates railroads in the Midwest and Mexico that run north to south, in contrast to the majority of other railroads, which run east to west.

Chief Executive David L. Starling said in prepared remarks that Kansas City Southern delivered solid earnings and operating results in the latest quarter despite flooding that shut down key portions of its U.S. rail network for more than three weeks.

In the latest quarter, carload volume fell 5%. Among the commodity group with the biggest declines, energy segment carload volume fell by a third, including a 22% decline in coal volume and a 42% drop in frac sand shipments.

Over all, Kansas City Southern reported a profit of $107.8 million, or 99 cents a share, up from $100.8 million, or 91 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as foreign exchange rate fluctuations and 2015 lease termination costs, per-share adjusted earnings were unchanged at $1.03. Revenue decreased 6.7% to $562.7 million. Excluding currency fluctuations and U.S. fuel price effects, revenue declined 1%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 97 cents and revenue of $566 million.

Operating expenses fell 12% to $375 million.

CSX Corp. last week reported its first-quarter revenue fell 14% as the volume of coal shipments fell 31%. Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. are set to report their earnings on Thursday.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2016 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.