(The Associated Press circulated the following article on October 26.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. said Wednesday its third-quarter profit rose 5 percent, boosted by higher demand for coal shipments.
The freight railroad reported net income of $301 million, or 73 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $288 million, or 72 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. The 2004 quarter included a $53 million gain from the reorganization of the Conrail unit.
The results missed the average analysts’ estimate of 74 cents per share in a Thomson Financial survey.
Shares of Norfolk Southern fell $1.33, or 3.3 percent, to $39.07 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Revenue jumped 16 percent to $2.16 billion on higher demand for coal by utilities and on increased fuel surcharges. Sales from coal shipments alone rose 22 percent to $546 million. Revenue from general merchandise shipments — the company’s largest business — grew 13 percent to $1.14 billion.
”It was a powerful quarter, and it showed a lot of continued momentum for us at the same time that neither we nor anybody else knows precisely where the economy is going,” said David R. Goode, chairman and chief executive officer, in a telephone interview.
Charles W. ”Wick” Moorman, who will succeed Goode as CEO on Nov. 1, said Norfolk Southern moved a record-setting 2 million carloads of traffic, including another record of more than 451,000 carloads of coal.
Total railway operating expenses rose 17 percent to $1.63 billion on higher diesel fuel prices and costs of doing more business, as well as on unfavorable casualty claims, the company said.
Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states in the Eastern U.S. and Ontario.