Wide-moat Canadian National's first-quarter revenue declined roughly 1.5% year over year due to a slight volume decline, along with easing accessorial income and lower fuel surcharges, which reduced total yield. Core carload pricing remains positive. Revenue was slightly shy of our expected run rate, partly because of coal, which should see sequential recovery in the quarters ahead.
Over the past year, CN has reinvigorated its precision railroading roots, narrowing the margin gap with peers.
Grain carload-volume growth will likely take a breather in 2024 on a less robust late-2023 harvest and a less favorable export backdrop (to China).
|
Metric
|
CNI
|
CSX
|
UNP
|
|---|---|---|---|
Price/Earnings (Normalized) | 23.97 | 18.61 | 22.66 |
Price/Book Value | 5.48 | 5.23 | 9.74 |
Price/Sales | 6.84 | 4.58 | 5.98 |
Price/Cash Flow | 16.41 | 12.52 | 16.61 |
|
Metric
|
CNI
|
CSX
|
UNP
|
|---|---|---|---|
Quick Ratio | 0.35 | 0.88 | 0.62 |
Current Ratio | 0.61 | 1.05 | 0.81 |
Interest Coverage | 9.99 | 6.95 | 7.11 |
|
Metric
|
CNI
|
CSX
|
UNP
|
|---|---|---|---|
Return on Assets (Normalized) | 12.60% | 8.83% | 9.63% |
Return on Equity (Normalized) | 31.55% | 30.10% | 47.89% |
Return on Invested Capital (Normalized) | 18.67% | 13.72% | 15.34% |
|
Ticker
|
Name
|
Morningstar Rating for Stocks
|
Capital Allocation
|
Economic Moat
|
Market Cap
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UNP
| Union Pacific Corp | Lpxcwwl | Kky | $141.5 Bil | |
CP
| Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd | Gkthgzqb | Dznzx | $81.5 Bil | |
CSX
| CSX Corp | Lcyktgvf | Wyxyx | $65.8 Bil | |
NSC
| Norfolk Southern Corp | Qhggqcwx | Mfhj | $53.4 Bil | |
WAB
| Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp | — | Wbkgkmk | $28.9 Bil | |
CJPRY
| Central Japan Railway Co ADR | — | Dtwlqm | $23.3 Bil | |
CJPRF
| Central Japan Railway Co | — | Jyfvnl | $23.2 Bil | |
EJPRF
| East Japan Railway Co | — | Ntghjx | $21.3 Bil | |
EJPRY
| East Japan Railway Co ADR | — | Lpygqwr | $21.3 Bil |
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