CSX reports strong second quarter earnings

Class I railroad carrier CSX today reported second quarter net earnings of $535 million and $0.52 per share, which was up four percent annually and beat Wall Street estimates of $0.47 per share.

Quarterly operating income at $963 million was up 2 percent, and quarterly revenue at roughly $3.1 billion was up 2 percent. Company officials said that the strong quarterly output, which provided record results in all of its key financial measures, was driven by overall revenue growth, service and efficiency results, among other factors.

Total second quarter volume for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad carrier was 1.656 million total units, representing a 1 percent annual gain. Intermodal was up 2 percent at 644,000 units, and chemical and automotive loadings at 133,000 and 113,000 were up 11 and 2 percent, respectively. Coal was down 6 percent at 310,000. Total merchandise was up 3 percent at 702,000 units.

“On the revenue side, we were encouraged by the solid growth across many of our markets, offsetting the ongoing challenges in coal,” said Michael Ward, CSX President and CEO, on an earnings call earlier today. “Overall revenue was up slightly on a 1 percent volume growth combined with the team’s ability to drive solid core pricing for the service value CSX is providing. At the same time, we continue to deliver consistently high performances in safety, service, and efficiency in the pace of a broad range of economic and market conditions that continue to be dynamic.”

Looking at pricing for the quarter, Clarence Gooden, CSX executive vice president, sales and marketing, said on the call that core pricing on a same-store sales basis remained solid across nearly all markets, with these shipments representing nearly 80 percent of CSX’s traffic base for the quarter.
CSX defines same-store the same-store sales as shipments with the same customer, commodity and car type, and the same origin and destination.

Quarterly pricing increased 2.3 percent annually and 4.1 percent when excluding export coal, said Gooden. Revenue per unit averaged $1,863.

“On either basis, pricing exceeded rail inflation, which was low this quarter,” said Gooden. “A strong service product provides a solid foundation for pricing above rail inflation, which supports reinvestment over the long-term. We are confident in the value of our service product to remain focused on driving profitable growth.”