CSX Q1 Earnings & Revenues Lag Estimates, Decrease Year Over Year

CSX Corporation (CSX) reported disappointing first-quarter 2025 results, wherein both earnings and revenues lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly earnings per share of 34 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 37 cents and decreased 26% on a year-over-year basis on the back of lower revenues.

Total revenues of $3.42 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.47 million and declined 7% year over year. The downside was owing to a decline in coal revenues, fuel surcharge, and merchandise volume. This was partially offset by the effects of higher merchandise pricing and growth in intermodal volume.

First-quarter operating income decreased 22% year over year to $1.04 billion. Total expenses were up 2% year over year to $2.38 billion. Overall volumes declined 1% year over year.

CSX Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

CSX Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CSX Corporation Quote

Joe Hinrichs, president and chief executive officer, stated, “CSX faced operational challenges to start the year, which contributed to first quarter results that did not meet our expectations. In response, our talented and dedicated team of railroaders are working together to lift our performance and drive success through an uncertain market outlook. We are taking targeted actions to address the network constraints posed by two major ongoing infrastructure projects, and we remain committed to safely and reliably serving our customers.”

Q1 Segmental Performance of CSX

Merchandise revenues fell 2% year over year to $2.15 billion in the reported quarter, lower than our estimate of $2.20 billion. Merchandise volumes fell 2% year over year to $630 million. Segmental revenue per unit increased 1% year over year.

Intermodal revenues decreased 3% year over year to $493 million, lower than our estimate of $498 million. Segmental volumes increased 2% while revenue per unit decreased 5% year over year.

Coal revenues fell 27% year over year to $461 million in the reported quarter, lower than our estimate of $472.8 million. Coal volumes decreased 9% year over year, and segmental revenue per unit fell 20% year over year.

Trucking revenues totaled $202 million, down 6% year over year. Other revenues fell 20% year over year to $115 million in the reported quarter. 

Liquidity 

CSX exited the first quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $1.14 billion compared with $933 million at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt totaled $18.5 billion compared with $17.8 billion at the prior-quarter end.

CSX generated $1.25 billion of cash from operating activities in the reported quarter.

2025 Guidance of CSX

For 2025, CSX still expects total volume growth, amid market uncertainty and trade policy changes. Full-year revenues are likely to be affected by lower coal benchmarks, diesel prices and volume mix, especially in the first half of the year.

CSX will continue to focus on fluidity gains, efficiency initiatives and labor productivity.

Capital expenditures are expected to be roughly flat year over year, excluding hurricane rebuild spending.

CSX’s Zacks Rank

Currently, CSX carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

More Railroad Companies’ Q1 Earnings to Follow 

Many companies in the Zacks Transportation-Railroad industry, including the likes of Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC and Union Pacific Corporation UNP, are scheduled to report first-quarter earnings numbers later this month. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

Norfolk Southern

NSC is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 results on April 23, before market open. NSC’s top-line performance in the first quarter is expected to have been hurt by inflationary pressure, high interest rates, tariff-related uncertainties, weak freight demand and supply-chain disruptions.  softness in freight revenues and volumes is a negative for NSC and is likely to have hurt its performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

NSC’s earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate once in the preceding four quarters and surpassed the mark in the remaining three quarters, delivering an average rise of 2.94%.

Union Pacific Corporation

UNP is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 results on April 24, before market open.Weakness pertaining to freight revenues and volumes do not bode well for UNP. Economic uncertainty is also a cause for worry.

UNP’s earnings lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate once in the preceding four quarters and surpassed the mark in the remaining three quarters, delivering an average rise of 3.35%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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