NORFOLK, Virginia — U.S. railway operator Norfolk Southern Corp. on Wednesday said second-quarter profits rose, helped by cost cutting, though revenues were flat from a year earlier, a wire service reports.
The Norfolk, Virginia, railroad, whose lines cover the eastern United States, said net income was $119 million, or 31 cents a share, up from $107 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier.
Wall Street expected the operator of freight hauler Norfolk Southern Railway as well as transport and telecommunications businesses to earn between 28 cents and 32 cents a share, with a consensus forecast of 31 cents, according to 10 analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Despite an 11 percent drop in coal-carriage revenues, overall second-quarter railway operating revenues were unchanged at $1.59 billion. Railway operating expenses were down 3 percent.
Norfolk Southern shares closed Tuesday at $18.05, down 75 cents on the New York Stock Exchange. Norfolk Southern is up about 3 percent so far in 2002, outpacing other railroads, and far ahead of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Market Index, which has lost 30 percent.