CSX Expects More Modest Full-Year Earnings Growth Reflecting Challenging Weather Conditions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) Chief Financial Officer Fredrik Eliasson today discussed a variety of financial and market-specific topics at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Industrials Conference in New York City, including the first quarter weather impact on CSX, macroeconomic drivers of company growth, and long-term earnings guidance.

"The severe weather has challenged CSX operations and volume, with the impact on first quarter earnings now expected to approach 10 cents per share," Eliasson said. "However, we still expect full-year earnings growth in 2014, though at a more modest rate than previously anticipated, with the underlying strength in our merchandise and intermodal markets combined with visibility to several million new tons of domestic coal helping to offset the first quarter impact."

After several years of excess inventory at coal-fired utility plants in CSX's service territory, inventories are now close to normal levels as a result of the colder than normal winter weather. In addition, broad-based growth in the company's merchandise and intermodal markets in 2014 will continue on the strength of macroeconomic expansion, opportunities afforded by the process of natural gas drilling, and conversions from highway to intermodal service.

"To continue to promote modal conversion, CSX is making strategic investments to capitalize on an estimated 9 million truckloads in the East that would benefit from intermodal service," said Eliasson. "To leverage that opportunity, the company is expanding its Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal to leverage growth in the small- and mid-sized markets CSX now reaches as a result of its combined corridor and hub-and-spoke strategies."

Long-term, the company expects to continue generating sustainable, profitable growth for investors by leveraging its diverse business portfolio while continuing to price above inflation and drive efficiency gains of at least $130 million per year. 

With this as a foundation and with coal headwinds subsiding, CSX expects to deliver double-digit EPS growth on a sustainable basis. However, it is not clear whether the double-digit EPS growth expected in 2015 will be sufficient, in combination with the more modest earnings growth expected in 2014, to produce a compound annual growth rate of 10 to 15 percent off over the two year period.  At the same time, CSX continues to target a high-60s operating ratio by 2015, which the company believes is still attainable. Longer term, the company remains focused on achieving a mid-60s operating ratio.

About CSX
CSX, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a premier transportation company. It provides rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions to customers across a broad array of markets, including energy, industrial, construction, agricultural, and consumer products. For more than 185 years, CSX has played a critical role in the nation's economic expansion and industrial development. Its network connects every major metropolitan area in the eastern United States, where nearly two-thirds of the nation's population resides. It also links more than 240 short-line railroads and more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports with major population centers and small farming towns alike. More information about CSX Corporation and its subsidiaries is available at www.csx.com. Like us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/OfficialCSX) and follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/CSX).

SOURCE CSX