(The Associated Press circulated the following story on January 25.)
MONTREAL — Shipping firm Canadian National Railway Co. on Tuesday said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 68 percent on a sharp rise in revenue from greater commodity shipments during the period.
Quarterly income grew to $376 million, or $1.29 per share, from $224 million, or 78 cents, in the year-ago period. That compares with the mean estimate of 97 cents per share from a survey of analysts by Thomson First Call.
Revenue gained 15 percent to $1.74 billion from $1.51 billion a year earlier.
In the latest quarter, the company shipped a total of 46.22 billion revenue ton miles – one ton of goods transported one mile – an increase of 5 percent from the prior year.
Canadian National logged a sharp upswing in shipments of metals and minerals, which added 37 percent to reach $192 million. Revenue from forest products rose 22 percent to $387 million and coal increased 20 percent to $72 million, while shipments of petroleum and chemical products rose 9 percent to $283 million.
For the year, earnings were $1.26 billion, or $4.34 per share, up from $1.01 billion, or $3.33 per share, in 2003. Yearly revenue rose 11 percent to total $6.55 billion, compared with $5.88 billion the year before.
Wall Street analysts expected full-year income of $3.26 per share on revenue of $5.9 billion.
Canadian National shares rose $1.92, or 3.5 percent, to close at $57.52 on the New York Stock Exchange, and rose 47 cents to reach $58 in recent after-hours activity.