(The Associated Press circulated the following on September 20.)
NEW YORK — Shares of railroad operators were mostly down in trading Thursday, as a Bear Stearns analyst suggested investors were selling stock after a surge driven by the Federal Reserve’s half-point rate cut on Tuesday.
Analyst Edward Wolfe said rail stocks were “surprisingly weak” Wednesday and Thursday, but the trend was somewhat expected because of profit taking.
And although volume losses and soft demand are continuing in the third quarter, Wolfe said the rails should benefit in the next one or two years on stronger pricing.
The railroads have the “ability to grow earnings during a period of economic uncertainty, even if freight volumes remain weak throughout 2007, by offsetting much of the volume loss with improved productivity,” he said.
Here’s how major railroads finished Thursday:
Union Pacific Corp. lost $2.65, or 2.3 percent, at $112.18;
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. off 47 cents at $80.94;
CSX Corp. down 28 cents at $40.34;
Norfolk Southern Corp. lost 32 cents at $51.18;
Kansas City Southern added 12 cents at $32.17;
Canadian National Railway Co. gave up 31 cents at $56.60; and
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. slipped by 7 cents to $69.14.