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Norfolk Southern’s Q3 Profit Beats, but Revenue Misses; Shares Fall (NSC)

By Dividend.com,  October 24, 2012, 08:29:10 AM EDT

Railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corp. ( NSC ) on Wednesday posted mixed third quarter earnings results, hurt by a sharp decline in coal shipments.

The Virginia-based company reported third quarter net income of $402 million, or $1.24 per share, down 27% from $554 million, or $1.59 per share, in the year-ago period.

Revenue fell 6.8% to $2.69 billion.

On average, Wall Street analysts expected a smaller profit of $1.23 per share, albeit on higher revenue of $2.71 billion.

On a sour note, NSC said that railway operating ratio, a key metric used to measure the performance of railroads, rose to 72.9% in the third quarter, up from 67.5% last year. This number means that nearly 73% of the company's revenue was consumed by costs.

Norfolk Southern shares fell $2.51, or -3.8%, in premarket trading Wednesday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Norfolk Southern ( NSC ) have a 3.03% dividend yield, based on last night's closing stock price of $66.01. The stock has technical support in the $62-$64 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $70 price level.

Norfolk Southern Corp. ( NSC ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .




The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.


This article appears in: Investing, Stocks

Referenced Stocks: NSC



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