(The Associated Press circulated the following article on October 26.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Freight railroad operator CSX Corp. reported Wednesday that its third-quarter profit jumped 33 percent as higher coal shipments helped boost revenue.
The company’s earnings grew to $164 million, or 72 cents per share, for the July-September period from $123 million, or 55 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue from the company’s rail and multimode transport businesses rose 9 percent to $2.13 billion from $1.94 billion, driven by increased revenue from coal, coke and iron ore. Coal alone posted 16 percent sales growth to $491 million, as utility shipments rose 6 percent at 37 million tons. Merchandise shipment revenue rose 8 percent to $1.05 billion.
Analysts expected earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $2.1 billion, according to a Thomson Financial poll.
Separately, CSX hiked its quarterly dividend by 30 percent to 13 cents a share. The dividend will be paid on Dec. 15 to shareholders of record from Nov. 25.
CSX shares rose 52 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $45.40 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.