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UP 1Q earnings on track
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April 26, 2001: 9:46 a.m. ET
Nation's largest railroad posts profit slip due to fuel costs but hits forecasts
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Union Pacific Corp., which operates the nation's largest railroad, reported slightly lower first quarter results Thursday that met Wall Street expectations.
Union Pacific (UNP: up $0.26 to $56.00, Research, Estimates) earned $181 million, or 72 cents a share, in line with forecasts of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call. A year earlier, the company earned $185 million, or 74 cents a share.
The company was the first major U.S. railroad to announce staff cuts in December in the face of declining shipments due to the slowing U.S. economy.
Revenue edged up 1 percent to $2.9 billion on a 12 percent gain in coal shipments and strong results from agricultural shipments, which overcame a drop in most other major products.
The railroad's ratio of operating expenses to revenue, a key measure of a carrier's financial results, worsened slightly to 83.8 percent from 82.9 percent a year earlier due to a 14 percent increase in fuel costs in the quarter.
The company's Overnite Transportation Co. trucking unit, which has been the target of a strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for more than a year, had improved operating income of $9 million, up from $1 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 4 percent to $280 million.
The Union Pacific report follows disappointing results from competitor Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI: up $0.79 to $29.45, Research, Estimates) as well as eastern railroad CSX Corp. (CSX: up $1.00 to $34.62, Research, Estimates) earlier in the week, although Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC: up $1.91 to $18.00, Research, Estimates), another eastern railroad, posted better-than-forecast results Wednesday. 
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