Norfolk Southern railroad's Q4 profit up 13% on higher rates

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk Southern railroad delivered 13% greater profit in the fourth quarter even though the amount of cargo it transported declined because it was able to raise rates.

The Atlanta-based company said it earned $760 million, or $3.12 per share, in the quarter. That's up from $671 million, or $2.64 per share, a year earlier.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.04 per share.

Norfolk Southern said it hauled 4% fewer shipments as auto production continued to be hurt by the ongoing shortage of computer chips and supply chain challenges slowed shipments of containers of imported goods.

The railroad said its revenue grew 11% to $2.85 billion as it increased rates on shipments and collected additional fuel surcharges. That also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.79 billion.

Norfolk Southern predicted that its revenue will grow this year by a rate in the upper single digits.

For all of 2021, the railroad reported profit of $3.01 billion, or $12.11 per share. Revenue was reported as $11.14 billion.

Norfolk Southern is one of the nation’s largest railroads, and it operates about 19500 miles (31382.21 kilometers) of track in 22 Eastern states and the District of Columbia.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NSC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NSC