NSC - Preliminary Q1 Results at Embattled Norfolk Southern Miss Expectations | Benzinga
In an outlook for Q1 earnings, which are to be released April 24, Norfolk Southern said adjusted earnings would come in at $2.49 a share and adjusted operating ratio would be 69.9%.
Those numbers are both below Wall Street consensus on how the railroad, which serves the Eastern half of the U.S., performed in the quarter. The report initially pushed Norfolk Southern stock down before a later rebound.
According to SeekingAlpha, the consensus forecast for adjusted EPS was $2.59 a share, 10 cents more than Norfolk Southern said it made in the quarter. The adjusted OR was expected to be 69%, according to consensus, 90 basis points better than what Norfolk Southern now says it will report.
The nonadjusted numbers are far different from the adjusted figures, primarily as a result of the company's $600 million settlement over the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and chemical spill last year. Those GAAP results, which take into account charges connected to East Palestine as well as other charges, take the OR up to 92.9% and diluted earnings per share to 23 cents a share.
Sitting down with Wolfe Research
As part of its campaign against the Ancora push for new management, which is taking place now through proxy voting, Norfolk Southern management has been making numerous public appearances. On Wednesday, an online interview with transportation analyst Scott Group of Wolfe Research had embattled CEO Alan Shaw saying the Tuesday report wasn't all that bad.
"We had said that first-quarter OR was going to be 100 to 200 basis points deterioration from the fourth quarter, and it's up 110 basis points with normal seasonality" Shaw said. "But we're encouraged by the fact that OR improved throughout the quarter each and every ...