Some observations:
Operating Ratio drops to 63.7
Net Income almost doubles to $695 million (24% of revenues) compared to 1Q 2017
Revenue flat at $2.876 billion
Volume down 4% from 1Q 2017
Revenue per Unit up 4% from 1Q 2017
Distributions to Shareholders (dividends and stock buybacks) up 143%
Long Term Debt up $2 billion or 17% to $13.768 billion
Stock buybacks $836 million
Earnings per Share double to 78 cents
And investment for capitol improvements and how much for maintenance?
To paraphrase Mark Twain -
There are lies, damn lies and CSX Financials.
Yes! Their financials say that in the first quarter of 2018, during which the economy has had fairly strong growth, they hauled 4% less traffic than a year ago, according to their own numbers. It will be interesting to see if that pattern continues. It will also be interesting to see if they continue to increase their long term debt over the course of the year, and if they continue to have shareholder distributions in excess of their net profit each quarter. They paid out $194 million in dividends and bought back $836 million in stock, so shareholder distributions totaled $1.03 billion for the quarter. Net income was $695 million, about 30% less than shareholder distributions.
It will be interesting to see what the other railroads report - they are all reporting over the next week.