(The Associated Press circulated the following on January 2.)
NEW YORK — Railroad shares fell Wednesday, as investors pulled back after an analyst cut earnings estimates for some key players because of high fuel costs and weaker-than-expected volumes.
Longbow Research analyst Lee Klaskow cut his expectations for the fourth quarter of 2007, the full-year 2008 and 2009 for four major North American rails, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Canadian National Railway Co., CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.
An 11 percent jump in the price of diesel fuel since the end of the third quarter “should prove to be a difficult headwind to mitigate for railroads, especially against the backdrop of a softer economy,” he wrote in a client note.
However, Klaskow raised his 2009 earnings estimate for Canadian Pacific due to better-than-expected exchange rate expectations.
Here’s how major North American rails finished Wednesday:
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., down 30 cents to $82.93.
CSX Corp., down 53 cents to $43.45.
Norfolk Southern, down $1.03, or 2 percent, to $49.41.
Union Pacific, down $1.38 to $124.24.
Canadian National Railway, down 53 cents to $46.40.
Canadian Pacific, down 19 cents to $64.45.