Railway company CSX (CSX) shares are up for the year. Even though the chart may look choppy, the stock is up nearly 35% year-to-date. Tuesday, it closed at a price of $57.26. After the bell, the company, which competes with such companies as Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Union Pacific (UNP), released third-quarter earnings were, and investors thought enough of them to give the company a bid in the extended session.

According to theflyonthewall, earnings per share of $1.08 beat the market's estimate by four pennies. That $1.08 figure was, as the corporate press release states, 48% higher than the year-ago income level.

Continue reading CSX Goes Beyond Projections in Q3

CSX Goes Beyond Projections in Q3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading CSX Left Out of the Bullish Tide

CSX Left Out of the Bullish Tide originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading CSX Is Strengthening with the U.S. Economy

CSX Is Strengthening with the U.S. Economy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CSX (NYSE: CSX), a railway company whose colleagues include Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) and Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), issued its Q1 report on Tuesday after the bell. As one might imagine, there was a drop in both sales and net income. The top line declined by 17%. The bottom line, on an adjusted basis (taking into account an item from last year's similar quarter), dropped 23% to $0.62 per share.

The economy is still taking its toll, obviously. Volumes were down during the quarter. However, the market sometimes cares about only one thing: beating expectations. CSX actually beat the analyst expectations of $0.51 per share. This significant difference led traders to push shares of CSX higher by 6.5% during Tuesday's after-hours session.

Continue reading CSX's earnings engine was powerful in Q1

CSX's earnings engine was powerful in Q1 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Time to get on board UNP

Time to get on board UNP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Somali pirates have their backs against the wall originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AAR March Report: Freight movement by railroads slows

AAR March Report: Freight movement by railroads slows originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AAR February Report: Freight movement by railroads

AAR February Report: Freight movement by railroads originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

YRC Worldwide is ready for the long haul originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Judging by the most recently available statistics from the American Association of Railroads, the trade and productivity numbers currently coming out of Washington appear to be a bunch of bunk. Will someone please tell Ben Bernanke that cold hard facts will supplant pipe dreams any day?

Rail freight numbers for the week ended June 9 continue to trend downward and are consistent with trending for the year so far. By now, industrial surpluses and inventories should have been reduced to the point that manufacturing would be demanding an increased influx of raw materials, but such is not the case. Plainly put, consumer demand and domestic manufacturing are down, and it shows plainly in reduced freight numbers. The breakdown for the week ending June 9 is as follows:

• Intermodal freight (truck trailers or shipping containers): Down 3.2 percent from last year.
• Carload freight (not including intermodal): Down 5.6 percent.
• 4.0 percent fewer carloads originated from the West and 7.8 percent fewer originated from the East.
• Total cumulative rail freight volume for the first 23 weeks of 2007 was an estimated 754.9 billion ton-miles, down 3.1 percent from last year.

Canadian and Mexican railroad reports show similar trending, though not as significantly as the American declines. The single remarkable exception is the Mexican railroad, Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM), which has reported intermodal volume of 4,878 trailers or containers, up 18.4 percent from the 23rd week of 2006. That significant increase, my friends, is reflective of manufactured goods they're shipping up to us.

Bear these numbers in mind the next time you get your statistical hogwash from Washington. They can tell you that more people are working and they can tell you that companies are manufacturing more stuff, but the true facts come out when the train cars get loaded (or don't).

American railroads point to a slightly chilling economy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

China Venture News reports that China's state-owned shipping firm, COSCO, is initiating an IPO of 1.78 billion shares which is scheduled for the Shanghai Stock Exchange on June 26. The report states that sales of shares online began June 18, 2007. The report further states that price per share should be starting between "7.60 yuan and 8.48 yuan per share." According to the report, "Analysts expect the price to go to 15 yuan a share early in trading."

Cosco plans on using the money raised for renwewing and/or increasing its shipping fleet and has also earmarked the funds for expanding port facilities. Cosco is currently China's single largest state owned shipping operation.

COSCO IPO slated for June 26 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's a simple riddle and the answer is simple also. You'll probably kick yourself if you didn't think of it.

Riddle: Why would Warren Buffett want to play with trains?

Answer: Because he sees money in them.

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP)

I'll keep this short and sweet because I just got off a twelve-hour shift and I have about six hours to sleep before I get back up and start all over again. Don't pity me, those are just the facts. If I don't average 50 hours a week, the credit union will come and swipe the Chevy truck off of my driveway!

Here are some of the things that I think Warren Buffett likes about the trains:

1.) Railroads are currently in a mildly depressed state business wise yet they are presenting very strong projections for the mid to long term.

2.) I believe that the American Railroad Association and members of the current Congress have a mutually held belief that railroads may expect to be well treated by government through the next presidential administration.

3.) Continuing upward pressure of fuel costs make rail transport increasingly more competitive with the trucking fleet and shall prompt more wholesale purchasing within our own continent.

4.) The rail industry has recently reported its safest year in history and it may expect reduced liability costs both within its own workforce and involving contact with the public sector.

I like trains also. As proof of that you may check out my past blog posts regarding them. While it is true that I didn't come right out and tell you to invest in the railroads, I did hope that you'd look into them.

Association of American Railroads welcomes the 110th Congress

Burlington Northern explores some explosive options for avalance control

The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads.

Why would Warren Buffett want to play with trains? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A brief look at railroad freight traffic numbers offers some tell-tale signs as to where our economy is heading. I like to review railroad loading statistics because they can give you a crystal-ball edge in guessing where the big money is leaning in the volatile economic food chain. Basically, right now the numbers are firm year over year, but the freight demographics are what I find interesting.

According to the Association of American Railroads: Total rail freight volume is up 8.9% as compared to 2006, but while container volume is up about 14%, trailer volume is down 6.2%. That indicates that for the year so far, the railroads are probably moving more imported product than domestic product.

While total carload freight (not including inter-modal) was down nearly 1% this week as compared to the same week last year, total ton-miles increased 0.3%, indicating that less freight is moving but it is traveling more miles. That is clearly due to the decreasing inventories of manufactured product, which should bode well for manufacturers in the second and third quarters. That's assuming that consumer spending maintains current levels.

Nonmetallic mineral shipments have increased nearly 20% by volume over last year. This shows strength in base chemicals, base raw materials, glass, concrete, asphalt, industrial construction, and infrastructural improvements. Metallic ore shipments are down over 50%; I believe that shows weakness most especially in steel, tin, aluminum, and copper. Lumber and wood product shipments declined nearly 25% -- no reprieve for the home building market there! Petroleum product shipments are up 9.2% year over year, and coal shipments have increased 3.1%. Here's a tip, it looks like road building and resurfacing will be a big gainer this summer!

Continue reading The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads

The economy is firm but changing: Listen to the railroads originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Okay, so my title is a bit misleading. No, I don't mean a bigger trade deficit is a good thing. What I'm getting at here is that bigger thinking could help lead us down a better road. Beginning with the introduction of transistors in 1947 and then progressing from transistors to integrated circuits and on through to today's computer chips, the trend in electronics manufacturing has been to make things smaller and smaller. While this shrinking of electronics has been an overall good thing, the concept has crept into nearly every class of consumer merchandise. This has made the manufacturing, shipping and importation of foreign manufactured items that much more lucrative.

In the 1970's we were faced with much screaming and yelling about how crude oil was going to run out in 20 years. There was a world wide mad dash to do something to prevent that from happening. The mantra for auto makers became "if it's not a compact car it'll be a subcompact car." People didn't like those cars much but they were sold to us as fun and practical. At .95 cents a gallon for gas, people were eager to use less oil in order to help save the world. Chromium steel was replaced with ugly black and gray plastic. Roofs were lowered to eliminate glass. Tires had their sidewall area reduced and tire widths began to narrow. Japan began to salivate as the proposition of exporting cars to America became lighter, leaner and cheaper. .

(photo courtesy of: www.njscuba.net/ )

Continue reading The American Trade Deficit: Bigger is better for us.

The American Trade Deficit: Bigger is better for us. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Dec 2006 17:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.