Freight transportation company Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) will be reporting earnings this Thursday before the bell. Here’s what investors should know.
Norfolk Southern met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $3.10 billion, up 1.7% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts’ sales volume estimates and a decent beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is Norfolk Southern a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Norfolk Southern’s revenue to be flat year on year at $3.01 billion, improving from the 1.6% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.76 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Norfolk Southern has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates six times over the last two years.
Looking at Norfolk Southern’s peers in the transportation and logistics segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Union Pacific posted flat year-on-year revenue, meeting analysts’ expectations, and CSX reported flat revenue, falling short of estimates by 0.9%. CSX traded up 2.4% following the results.
Read our full analysis of Union Pacific’s results here and CSX’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the transportation and logistics segment, with share prices up 9.3% on average over the last month. Norfolk Southern is down 1.1% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $310.63 (compared to the current share price of $287.50).
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