Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., the nation´s second biggest freight railroad operator, said Tuesday that third-quarter profit rose 18 percent on the strength of record shipments and higher fuel surcharges.
Quarterly earnings increased to $488 million, or $1.33 per share, from $414 million, or $1.09 per share during the same period last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of $1.30 per share.
Revenue grew 19 percent to $3.94 billion from $3.32 billion a year earlier, topping analysts´ forecast of $3.86 billion.
Fuel costs spiked by $293 million, or 59 percent, to $792 million. Burlington offset that by raising $507 million in fuel surcharges, up from $300 million a year ago. The railroad has been adding surcharges as shipper contracts come up for renewal.
Burlington Northern´s shares rose 35 cents, to close at $79.36 on the New York Stock Exchange.
For the October-December period, the company said it expects freight revenue to rise 10 percent and earnings per share to increase 20 to 25 percent over last year´s fourth quarter. That would produce earnings of $1.36 to $1.41 per share. Analysts were looking for $1.39 per share.
Burlington Northern officials told analysts that fourth-quarter shipments of coal and grain exports should rise, and that the company will be helped by tight capacity among truckers, a competitor for hauling freight.
Facing complaints about slow service, Burlington Northern has been building more track, adding locomotives and reducing the number of connections freight cars must make.
Matthew K. Rose, the company´s chairman, president and chief executive, said the main challenge is rapidly growing demand for rail shipping.
It´s just phenomenal volume that´s out on the railroad, he said. But the railroad is doing well and starting to show improvement.
On-time performance fell for shipments of coal and industrial goods but improved for other freight and overall.
The company said the improved July-September results came from a 10 percent jump in coal volumes and an 8 percent gain in intermodal, a fast-growing segment where goods are hauled between different types of transportation, such as moving from ship to rail or rail to truck. Agricultural product volume also rose 8 percent.
In the first nine months of the year, Burlington Northern earned $1.37 billion or $3.68 per share, compared to $1.10 billion or $2.88 per share in the same period last year. Revenue has risen to $11.10 billion from $9.44 billion a year earlier.
Burlington Northern operates 32,000 miles of track and is second only to Union Pacific Corp. among U.S. freight railroads by revenue.
Publicado em 24/10.
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