Canadian National Railway : Pushes Up 4Q Sales, Helped By Grain Shipments

By Micah Maidenberg

Canadian National Railway Co. said grain shipments helped to bolster results at the end of last year.

The railroad with a network stretching across Canada and into parts of the U.S. on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.02 billion Canadian dollars, equivalent to about $803 million, compared with earnings of C$873 million a year earlier. On a per-share basis, profit rose to C$1.43 from C$1.22 a share, roughly in line with expectations from analysts, according to FactSet.

Revenue increased to C$3.66 billion from C$3.58 billion year over year. That was a bit ahead of the consensus estimate for revenue of C$3.64 billion for the latest period.

"The increase in revenues was mainly attributable to record shipments of Canadian grain, increased shipments of U.S. grain, higher international container traffic via the Port of Vancouver and freight rate increases," the company said.

That demand, however, was partially offset by lower fuel surcharges and lower crude volumes, Canadian National added.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-26-21 1706ET