The financial regulations require hedge funds and wealthy investors that exceeded the $100 million equity holdings threshold to file a report that shows their positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn't the intention, these filings to a certain extent level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F […]
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CSX Corp. experienced a 5 percent decline in revenue during the first quarter of 2020, after volumes rapidly declined in response to Covid-19 related closures. Revenue rang in at $2.86 billion, largely due to declines in both volume and auto volumes: CSX saw a 10 percent decline in automotive volumes, a 6 percent decline in fertilizer volumes and a 15 percent decline in coal volumes. "We will take the necessary steps to ensure sufficient liquidity," CEO Jim Foote said during the earnings call on Wednesday evening.
U.S. railroad operator CSX Corp
CSX Corp. (CSX) today announced first quarter 2020 net earnings of $770 million, or $1.00 per share, versus $834 million, or $1.02 per share in the same period last year. “I am extremely proud of our outstanding CSX employees for keeping the railroad running at such a high level during these unprecedented times and enabling the delivery of critical goods across the country,” said James M. Foote, president and chief executive officer. “Their hard work and dedication over the past few weeks, and throughout our transformation, have put CSX on the strongest footing it has ever been heading into this period of economic uncertainty.”
Higher merchandise volumes aid CSX's Q1 performance amid softness in coal. With uncertainty surrounding coronavirus, the company has suspended financial forecast.
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CSX (CSX) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of 8.70% and -0.77%, respectively, for the quarter ended March 2020. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) Is likely to witness a rebound and strong growth in volume in 2021, while its cost-saving initiatives could limit downside risk, according to UBS.The CSX Analyst Thomas Wadewitz upgraded CSX Corp. from Neutral to Buy and raised the price target from $63 to $80.The CSX Thesis CSX Corp. is likely to gain market share versus trucking in 2021 and achieve stronger volume growth than its rail peers, Wadewitz said in the Wednesday upgrade note. (See his track record here.)The company is resilient and is likely to generate free cash flow of $2.1 billion in 2020 despite the tough backdrop, the analyst said. Wadewitz said he expects the decline in volumes in 2020 versus 2018 to be similar to the 18.6% decline in volumes witnessed in 2009 versus 2007. He further expects a similar rebound in volumes this cycle, with volume growth of 8.8% in 2021.The sharp cyclical decline in volumes gives CSX the opportunity to lower its structural costs, the analyst said."We believe consensus is anticipating a more muted lift in 2021 and our estimate of $4.45/share implies upside vs consensus of $4.14."CSX Price Action Shares of CSX Corp. were trading 5.44% higher at $69.55 at the time of publication Wednesday. Related Links:Benzinga's Top Upgrades, Downgrades For May 20, 2020Rail Analysts Expect A Tough 6 MonthsLatest Ratings for CSX DateFirmActionFromTo May 2020UBSUpgradesNeutralBuy Apr 2020UBSMaintainsBuy Apr 2020Wells FargoMaintainsEqual-Weight View More Analyst Ratings for CSX View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga * Analyst Shares Thoughts On cbdMD's Q2 Earnings: 'Sustainable Ongoing Operation' * Cantor Upgrades Green Thumb Industries On Fundamentals, Relative Valuation * Square Faces Risk From Struggling Smaller Businesses, BofA Says In Double Downgrade(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Does the April share price for CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate...
Q1 2020 CSX Corp Earnings Call
CSX (CSX) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.
Yesterday, the board of directors of CSX Corp. (CSX) approved a $0.26 per share quarterly dividend on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable June 15, 2020, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 29, 2020. CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation company.
Supply-chain disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic dent UPS' Q1 performance.
Today we'll evaluate CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea...
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 05, 2020 -- CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX) chief financial officer Kevin Boone will address the Bank of America Securities 2020 Transportation and Industrials.
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) is seeking areas where it can cut even more costs as a way to counter the anticipated downturn in rail volumes in the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to executives speaking during the company's first-quarter earnings call on April 22."We're focused on taking out structural costs" through measures such as eliminating train starts and keeping labor costs down, said CSX Chief Financial Officer Kevin Boone.As CSX's rail volumes have fallen by over 20% in recent weeks, CSX has adjusted operations to match rail demand, although some initiatives also serve a dual goal of improving network efficiencies, according to Jamie Boychuk, CSX executive vice president of operations. CSX has reduced its use of rail assets, including storing around 400 locomotives in March, and the company has eliminated 50 merchandise trains from its daily plan while keeping the merchandise train length consistent, Boychuk said. CSX has also reduced train delays by 66%, he said."We've started to adjust our network to where we see demand sit," Boychuk said.Although CSX has made these operational changes, executives said they've stayed in close communication with each other and with customers so that CSX can gauge how to modify operations so that customers still have the service they need."We have worked too hard to get this right to go backwards" with service levels, said CSX President and CEO Jim Foote, adding later that "we have worked like dogs to get the service levels of this railroad up to where they belong." But Foote declined to lay out the various scenarios that outline their expectations for rail volumes for the year, citing too many unknowns. The range of how U.S. production and consumer confidence might rebound and recover is too wide to predict, he said. "We've certainly looked at all the alphabet: the V, U, L and W" of possible recovery scenarios, Foote said, referring to the different types of trajectories that graph or model an economic recovery. One reason why CSX's scenarios are so varied is because they have different rail volume inputs, he said.But one constant of sorts is CSX's expectations to spend roughly $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion on capital expenditures so that the railroad can conduct maintenance on its network and prepare it for a volume rebound, Foote said. However, CSX might revisit that total figure later this year as it still looks for potential non-essential spending items that it can defer to next year, he said. When asked about how CSX might benefit from the e-commerce boom that has been fueled even further by the COVID-19 pandemic, Foote said he saw two opportunities. One is that as the U.S. economy is expected to recover sometime in the future, Foote said his personal view is that there might be a focus to have more manufacturing take place in the U.S., which would ultimately benefit the railroads. The other is that e-commerce has transitioned some players in the trucking industry to become large quantity shippers, bringing them on par with the railroads, and "because of our service, as we go forward, I think that will be a big opportunity for us," Foote said.In its April 22 earnings release the company stated its first-quarter net profit fell 7.7% amid lower revenues and a record operating ratio. CSX 2020 Value 2019 Value Y/Y Gross Change Y/Y % Change Freight revenue $2,855.0 $3,013.0 ($158.0) -5.2% Carloads (000s) (incl. intermodal) 1,514 1,531 -17 -1.1% Revenue per carload $1,886 $1,968 -$82 -4.2% Intermodal shipments (000s) 660 657 3 0.5% Intermodal revenue per carload $639 $651 -$12 -1.8% Gross ton miles 95.3 96.7 -1 -1.4% Revenue per ton mile $48.50 $48.60 $0 -0.2% Fuel Expense (millions) $192 $233 -$41 -17.6% Employee counts 20,627 22,194 -1,567 -7.1% Train velocity (mph) 21.2 20.4 1 3.9% Dwell time (hours) 8.3% 8.6% -0.3% -3.5% OR% 58.7% 59.5% -0.8% -1.3% EPS $1.00 $1.02 -$0.02 -2.0% First-quarter 2020 net income was $770 million, or $1 a share, compared with $834 million, or $1.02 a share in the first quarter of 2019, the company said on April 22. Meanwhile, CSX's first-quarter operating ratio was a record 58.7%, compared with 59.5% for the same period a year ago.More of CSX's first-quarter financial results are available here.Photo credit: Flickr/Birmingham Photographer J.g.See more from Benzinga * Food Supply Chain In Peril As Plants Close Amid COVID-19 Pandemic * Echo Grew Q1 Revenue, But Margins Compressed During Coronavirus Surge * Another Autonomous Trucking Startup Announces Layoffs(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 13, 2020 -- CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX) Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing Mark Wallace will address the 2020 Wolfe Research Global.
CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) first-quarter net profit fell 7.7% amid lower revenues and a record operating ratio.First-quarter 2020 net income was $770 million, or $1 a share, compared with $834 million, or $1.02 a share in the first quarter of 2019, the company said Wednesday.Meanwhile, CSX's first-quarter operating ratio was a record 58.7%, compared with 59.5% for the same period a year ago. Operating ratio, a company's operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, can be an indicator of a company's financial health. A lower operating ratio implies improved financial performance.First-quarter revenue decreased 5% to $2.86 billion as gains for merchandise revenue weren't enough to offset declines for coal and other revenue, according to the company. CSX attributed the revenue and volume decline for coal to lower shipments of utility coal and export coal, while the intermodal volumes were under pressure from extended closures in China because of the COVID-19 pandemic.View more earnings on CSXCSX said the "other" revenue was primarily due to a favorable contract settlement with a customer in the prior year and lower revenue for demurrage and intermodal storage in the current year.But first-quarter expenses fell 7% to $1.68 billion on what CSX described as continued efficiency gains. Operating income fell 3% to $1.18 billion.Meanwhile, train velocity in the first quarter rose 4% to 21.2 mph compared with the first quarter of 2019, while terminal dwell, or the amount of time a train spends at a terminal, fell 3% to 8.3 hours."I am extremely proud of our outstanding CSX employees for keeping the railroad running at such a high level during these unprecedented times and enabling the delivery of critical goods across the country," said Jim Foote, CSX president and chief executive officer. "Their hard work and dedication over the past few weeks, and throughout our transformation, have put CSX on the strongest footing it has ever been heading into this period of economic uncertainty."See more from Benzinga * Rail Analysts Expect A Tough 6 Months * Coronavirus Takes Aim At North American Rail Traffic * Norfolk Southern Cautions Feds About Coronavirus Risks(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
The Class I railroads are closely watching the restart of North American automotive production, hoping that the slow ramp up will not only grow auto volumes but also improve demand for supplies such as steel and plastics, according to executives at recent investor conferences.However, a key unknown variable is whether consumer demand will lift volumes for automobiles and other goods, executives said."Our auto plants reopened this week with very limited production. The sustainability of that production is going to be highly dependent on consumer demand and consumer confidence to go out there and buy automobiles," said Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) Chief Marketing Officer Alan Shaw during Wolfe Research's virtual conference for investors on Wednesday, May 20.Limited auto production resumed this week among major U.S. automakers, according to various news reports, and production in Mexico is expected to restart on June 1 although the government previously announced it would begin production in mid-May.Shaw added that the slow ramp-up in auto production would also likely result in "puts and takes" for auto suppliers since some supplies, such as steel, are already at the plants. The auto industry's suppliers might not see demand recovery until auto production has been up and running for some time, according to Shaw. While CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX) view on the market remains relatively unchanged since its first-quarter earnings call in April, the reopening of the Big Three automakers might help the railroad get some clarity on merchandise volumes for the remainder of the second quarter and into the third quarter, according to Mark Wallace, CSX's executive vice president of sales and marketing. Wallace also noted during the Wolfe conference how products feeding into auto manufacturing, such as plastics and steel, could benefit from the reopening of the auto manufacturing plants. Meanwhile, Wallace's colleague at CSX, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Boone, said last week that CSX was starting to see some "very small car orders" coming through the auto manufacturing plants. But Boone also noted it would be a couple of weeks before any sizable volumes appeared."This will be a slow ramp-up, and they're focused on protecting their workforce as well," Boone said at the Bank of America Securities Transportation and Industrials conference on May 12. But "certainly going zero to something is helpful."Although revenue ton miles for Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE: CP) are "at the bottom" for the second quarter, with revenue and volumes ebbing and flowing for the rest of May, the return of automotive production should provide some uplift for the railway, said CP President and CEO Keith Creel at the Wolfe Research conference on May 20."We're experiencing unique growth in the sector given our partners," Creel said, noting that production would restart soon at Toyota, Honda and Chrysler, while shipments are expected to resume at CP's Vancouver automotive compound. Creel also said volumes would be "climbing out" in the third quarter, followed by "flattish" volumes in the fourth quarter and strength in the first quarter of 2021.The standstill in North American automotive production contributed greatly to the decline in rail volumes, with North American traffic for motor vehicles and parts falling 36.4% year-to-date to 335,839 carloads, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The data is for the week ending May 16.On a weekly basis, North American carloads fell 87.9% to 3,467 carloads. North American carloads of motor vehicles and parts tumbled between March and April. (SONAR: RTOMV.USA, RTOMV.CAN, RTOMV.MEX)How the Class I railroads are cutting costsTo counter tumbling rail volumes, the Class I railroads are continuing to apply some of the cost-control measures that they mentioned during their first-quarter earnings calls last month, including cutting their budgets for capital investments to focus on essential projects or maintenance, putting employees on furlough and ceasing operations at smaller rail yards, and storing hundreds of locomotives and railcars until demand improves. Other costs are more variable, such as fuel expenses. Many of the railroads also said they have reserve boards consisting of furloughed employees who can return to work quickly should there be a sudden rebound in volumes. "It gets harder to offset the volume declines as they accelerate," CSX's Boone said. He also said the current environment has prompted CSX to evaluate all its costs. The cost-cutting measures in turn make it harder to provide any guidance on where a company's operating ratio might be for the year, according to Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) President and CEO JJ Ruest. There is usually a lag when responding to lower volumes through layoffs and parking rolling stock."The drop in revenue in April and May has been so drastic. It's hard to keep up with the cost reduction without any timeline," Ruest said at the Bank of American conference on May 12.One structural change Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP) is tackling is how it operates its manifest network, which consists of trains made up with a variety of commodities as compared to a single commodity, like a unit train for grain. The railroad is eyeing running longer trains and making capital investments to sidings to allow for longer trains at its facilities. Running longer trains not only reduces crew starts but it also involves utilizing fewer assets to move the same amount of carloads, which in turn affects UP's productivity, according to UP's Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Hamann."The thing we're very encouraged about is that when we think about that productivity number, it's not just coming from one category," Hamann said May 12 at the Bank of America investor conference.Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) also said it might keep some of the operations changes made as a result of the pandemic, such as reducing train starts and lengthening trains. Both actions "cleansed" the network, enabling velocity to increase because there are fewer trains running on the network, said Sameh Fahmy, KCS executive vice president for precision scheduled railroading, at the May 12 conference."We're not going back to 100 train starts" when everything returns to normal, Fahmy said. "We found the trick; we know how to do it now" with smaller yards.U.S. carloads witness largest weekly declineU.S. weekly carloads experienced their largest percentage decline ever since AAR began collecting rail volume data in 1988.U.S. weekly carloads fell 30.2% to 184,425 carloads. Year-to-date, U.S. carloads were down 13.6% to 4.3 million carloads."The 30.2% decline in total U.S. carloads last week was the biggest year-over-year weekly decline for total carloads since 1988, when our data began. Coal didn't help – last week was the fifth straight week in which coal carloads were down at least 40% from last year," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. "For many other key rail commodities, including chemicals, petroleum products, and crushed stone and sand, carloads last week were roughly the same as in the previous few weeks, while intermodal originations last week were the most in eight weeks." Meanwhile, U.S. intermodal volumes slipped 14% on a weekly basis to 231,700 intermodal containers and trailers, while year-to-date volumes fell 11.4% to 4.7 million intermodal units.Total U.S. weekly traffic slipped 22% to 416,115 carloads and intermodal units, while year-to-date traffic was down 12.5% to nearly 9.1 million carloads and intermodal units. U.S. rail volumes have been trending lower in recent months. (SONAR: RTOTC.USA, RTOIC.CLASSI, RTOIT.CLASSI)Photo: Flickr/Jerry HuddlestonSee more from Benzinga * Airlines Highlight Hygiene Efforts To Win Back Customers * Bankrupt Celadon Seeks To Auction Off Mexico Trucking Businesses * Class 8 Orders Went Negative In April(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.