FORT WORTH, Texas — Reuters reports that Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the No. 2 U.S. railroad, on Tuesday reported a drop in quarterly profits caused by weak coal and other shipments.
The Fort Worth, Texas, railroad with lines crisscrossing the western United States said fourth-quarter profits were 54 cents a share, down 57 cents a share before extraordinary costs a year earlier.
Wall Street had expected Burlington to earn between 45 cents and 54 cents a share, with a mean forecast of 52 cents, according to 10 analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Shares of Burlington Northern closed at $26.67, down 3 cents, on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange (news – web sites). The railroad’s shares have declined about 5 percent during the past six months, or slightly worse than the 4.5 percent drop in the Dow Jones Railroads index.