CN still sees higher 2024 earnings

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $168 is a buy. Canada’s largest railway (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative-Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 637.6 million; Market cap: $107.1 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.cn.ca) raised your quarterly dividend by 7.0% with the March 2024 payment. The new annual rate of $3.38 a share yields 2.0%. CN has now increased that rate each of the past 28 years. The company’s revenue in the first quarter of 2024 fell 1.5%, to $4.25 billion from $4.31 billion a year earlier. Lower shipments of coal, forest products and intermodal containers (which travel by rail, ship and truck) offset higher volumes of petroleum and chemicals. Higher labour and other costs cut earnings by 9.6%, to $1.10 billion from $1.22 billion. The company spent $955 million on share buybacks in the quarter, so earnings per share fell at a slower rate of 5.5%, to $1.72 from $1.82. CN still expects an improving North American economy and better efficiency will…