Freight transportation company Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) will be reporting earnings tomorrow before the bell. Here’s what to expect.
Norfolk Southern Corporation missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $3.05 billion, up 2.7% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is Norfolk Southern Corporation a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Norfolk Southern Corporation’s revenue to decline 1.9% year on year to $3.02 billion, improving from the 5.1% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.94 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 Corporation has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates four times over the last two years.
Looking at Norfolk Southern Corporation’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 a revenue decline of 3.8%, falling short of estimates by 0.6%. Union Pacific traded up 5.6% following the results while CSX was down 2.8%.
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 4.2% on average over the last month. Norfolk Southern Corporation is up 11.8% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $272.84 (compared to the current share price of $259.76).
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