Topic: How To Invest

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $74.14 – Toronto symbol CP

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $74.14 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 170.0 million; Market cap: $12.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%; www.cpr.ca), transports freight between Montreal and Vancouver, and connects with hubs in the U.S. midwest and northeast.

In the three months ended December 31, 2011, CP’s revenue rose 8.8%, to $1.41 billion from $1.29 billion a year earlier. Earnings rose 18.8%, to $221 million, or $1.31 a share, from $186 million, or $1.10. CP’s $4.7 billion of debt is a manageable 37.3% of its market cap.

CP’s operating ratio worsened to 78.5% from 77.0%, mostly due to 29% higher fuel costs. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing regular operating costs by revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.) But CP plans to lower that to between 70% and 72% in the next three years with a number of upgrades, like new snow-clearing equipment, new trains and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

U.S.-based activist investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management, which owns 14.2% of the company, still aims to install Hunter Harrison, the successful former CEO of CN, as CP’s chief executive officer. Pershing Square also wants to replace six of CP’s 15 directors with its own nominees. No matter what happens, Pershing Square’s ongoing involvement should keep spurring CP’s stock price.

Canadian Pacific Railway is still a safety-conscious buy.

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