Union Pacific reports record first quarter
Source: Omaha World Herald
By Emily Nohr
Despite continued weak coal and grain markets, Union Pacific posted a record first quarter, the Omaha-based railroad said Thursday.
The companys first quarter profit was $957 million, or $2.03 per diluted share, up 11 percent from $863 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, this time last year.
Union Pacific achieved record first quarter financial results, leveraging the strengths of our diverse franchise despite significantly weaker coal and grain markets, said CEO Jack Koraleski. We efficiently managed our operations in the face of dynamic volume shifts across the network, as evidenced by our record first quarter operating ratio and customer satisfaction results.
Overall business volume was down 2 percent, with coal down 6 percent and agricultural down 9 percent. Those declines were offset by chemicals up 14 percent, automotive up 13 percent, intermodal up 9 percent and industrial products up 6 percent.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130418/MONEY/704189859/1707#union-pacific-reports-record-first-quarter
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)denbot
(9,900 posts)He had a great pension plan, excellent health care. U.P. had their own hospital system, until Raygun looted the pension, and closed down/sold off his retirement healthcare system..
mainer
(12,022 posts)investing in railroads.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), the Warren Buffett-controlled railroad with the largest track network in the U.S., reached its highest stock price ever on Friday as it shifts its business to natural gas producers from coal shipments, which are dropping.
Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific, which closed up 2.25 percent to $126.91 on Friday, has taken advantage of the boom in natural gas by shipping materials for companies that use hydraulic fracturing to extract gas, which has offset declines in coal. business. The company's fracking shipments increase 12 percent in the second quarter compared to the prior year, according to Bloomberg. The company estimated that shale shipments will grow to 400,000 carloads in 2012, according to a July earnings call, or around twice the amount shipped in the northern U.S. in 2011, said Bloomberg.
"The railroads have surprisingly benefited from the very industry responsible for the steep decline in coal shipments. The recent boom in hydraulic fracturing has resulted in railroads transporting more equipment, and petroleum products to and from shale formations for energy companies," stated Five Star Equities, a New York research firm, on Monday.
http://www.ibtimes.com/buffetts-union-pacific-rides-hydrofracking-record-high-stock-price-739018
elleng
(130,974 posts)Warren Buffet controls Burlington Northern/Santa Fe, NOT Union Pacific, which is still widely held.
Certainly UP would take advantage of aspects of natural gas transportation and exploration, its what UP does, and its no surprise to me that railroads 'benefited from the very industry responsible for the steep decline in coal shipments. The recent boom in hydraulic fracturing has resulted in railroads transporting more equipment, and petroleum products to and from shale formations for energy companies," its what they do.
Jazzgirl
(3,744 posts)But Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF lock, stock and barrel. Both railroads are making up losses on coal and grain with major increases in energy (read gas) shipments.
elleng
(130,974 posts)As he and Berkshire own BNSF, a truly 'significant' UP holding would raise serious regulatory issues.