* 1st quarter EPS 43 cents vs 38 cents Wall St forecast
* Revenue $3 billion vs Wall St view $2.92 billion
* Shares up 2.9 pct in after-hours trading
By Lynn Adler
April 17 (Reuters) – CSX Corp reported higher first
quarter earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, as increased
merchandise and intermodal shipments more than offset weakness
in the coal segment and exp enses declined.
Shares of the company rose 2.9 percent in after-hours
trading.
Total volume shipped in the first quarter rose 1 percent
from the year ago, e ven as c oal volume fell 14 percent d ue to
un usually mild winter weather and decade-low natural gas prices
tha t cut demand from utilities.
In the merchandise segment, volume was driven by an 18
percent increase in auto-related shipments, an 8 percent
increase in metals and a 6 percent increase in forest products.
Intermodal – the shipment of goods in containers that can be
moved from one form of transportation to another – rose 9
percent.
“Although utility coal-related headwinds are likely to be
stronger in the second quarter, CSX remains on track to achieve
year-over-year earnings growth in 2012,” Chief Executive Michael
Ward said in a statement.
Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX said on Tuesday that net
income rose to $449 million, or 43 cents per share, in the first
quarter from $395 million or 35 cents per share a year before,
bea ting the average Wall Street forecast by five cents.
Quarterly operating revenue rose 6 percent to nearly $3
billion on higher volume and pricing, slightly above the average
forecast of $2.92 billion.
“They were anticipating a slowdown in their coal business
and they tightened up their operating costs to beat earnings,”
said Thomas Nyheim, portfolio manager at Christiana Bank & Trust
Co., based in Greenville, Delaware, which holds CSX shares.
CSX is the second-largest publicly held U.S. railroad
operator.
“The higher revenue coupled with the company’s focus on
service, productivity and cost control drove an 11 percent
increase in operating income to a first-quarter record of $856
million,” the company said in a statement.
Analysts expect full-year profit of $1.80 per share,
a ccording to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
CSX, the first of the leading public U.S. railroads to
report quarterly results, will hold a conference call with
analysts before the stock market opens on Wednesday.
Coal overall represents about 23 percent of the railroad’s
volume and 30 percent of its revenue.
Domestic utility coal volume sank 28 percent in the quarter
compared with the same period a year earlier, and was partially
offset by a 17 percent increase in coal moved for export.
CSX’s utility coal volume fell by 33 percent to less than 1
million carloads in 2011 from 1.5 million in 2006, yet the
company posted record operating income in five of those six
years, new Chief Financial Officer Fredrik Eliasson said in an
interview in March.
Shares of CSX rose 2.9 percent after-hours from their close
of $22.44, up about 9.7 percent so far this year.
