NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. on Wednesday reported a big jump in quarterly earnings lifted by increases in shipments of manufactured goods, Reuters reported.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based company, whose lines cover the eastern United States and Ontario, said third-quarter profits were $126 million, or 32 cents a share. A year earlier, the company earned $79 million, or 20 cents a share.
The 11 Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected the company to earn between 30 cents and 35 a share in the quarter, with a mean forecast of 32 cents.
Shares of Norfolk Southern closed at $20.79, down 61 cents, or 2.8 percent, on Tuesday. The stock has risen about 13 percent so far in 2002, ahead of both the 4 percent drop in the Dow Jones U.S. Railroads Index and the sharp, 24 percent decline in the overall market.