Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, October 25, 2019

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $296.48, Toronto symbol CP, ships freight over a 22,000-kilometre rail network between Montreal and Vancouver, with links to hubs in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. The company’s investors continue to benefit from its improved efficiency, which offsets declining volumes. Still, in the third quarter of 2019, its revenue ton miles (a measure of freight volumes) fell 1.2%. Despite the slowing volumes, CP’s earnings in the quarter gained 8.7%, to $640 million from $589 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose at a faster rate of 11.9%, to $4.61 from $4.12. Those figures exclude unusual items, including a tax adjustment and a foreign exchange loss. On that basis, the latest earnings easily beat the consensus estimate of $4.48. Due to higher freight rates, revenue in the quarter rose 4.3%, to $1.98 billion from $1.90 billion a year earlier. However, that missed the consensus forecast of $1.99 billion. CP’s operating ratio in the quarter improved to 56.1% from…