OMAHA, Neb. — CSX Corp. said Tuesday that rate increases and a small improvement in the volume of products the railroad hauled helped it deliver 4 percent profit growth even though coal shipments remained down.
The Jacksonville, Fla.- based railroad said it generated $535 million net income, or 52 cents per share, during the quarter on $3.07 billion revenue. That's up from $512 million, or 49 cents per share, on $3.01 billion revenue last year.
The total number of carloads CSX delivered in the second quarter grew 1 percent even though coal shipments were still down 6 percent. Shipments of crude oil, fertilizer and intermodal containers of products drove the volume increase.
The results beat the 47 cents per share profit and $3.02 billion revenue that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.
CSX shares gained 48 cents to $25.12 in after-hours trading.
"We remain sharply focused on creating strong, sustained value for customers and shareholders, as the economy appears to be slowly gaining strength," said Michael Ward, CSX's chairman, president and CEO.
CSX has been grappling with significantly lower coal demand for a couple years because relatively cheap natural gas prices and environmental concerns prompted a number of utilities to switch from coal to gas.
But it appears that coal demand is beginning to stabilize, and CSX said domestic coal shipments increased in the quarter as natural gas prices rose.
