Norfolk Southern railroad’s first-quarter profit fell 27% because it didn’t collect big insurance payments related to the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and its planned merger with Union Pacific added to its costs.
The Atlanta-based railroad said Friday that it earned $547 million, or $2.43 per share. That’s down from $750 million, or $3.31 per share, a year ago. The disastrous derailment in the small town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border has generally boosted earnings in recent quarters as the railroad collected insurance payments, but that wasn’t the case this time, so it combined with planning costs related to the merger, earnings per share were reduced by 22 cents. Last year’s results were also helped by some land sales.
Without those unusual costs, the railroad’s profit would have beat Wall Street estimates. The analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted the railroad would earn $2.51 per share.
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