Norfolk Southern’s 4Q Profit Drops 32%

Norfolk Southern Corp. reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell 32% from a year ago.

The railroad earned $307 million, or 82 cents per share, compared with $452 million, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier.

NS said that it felt a “continuation of economic momentum” in the fourth quarter. It saw drops in many types of shipments, but coal saw the largest drop at 27% from a year ago.

Revenue declined 16% to $2.11 billion from $2.5 billion.

Intermodal revenue fell 15% from a year ago to $407 million. General merchandise revenue fell 9% to $1.1 billion.

For the full year, profit decreased 39.7% to $1.03 billion. Revenue fell 25.3% to $7.97 billion in the same period.