Canadian National Railway Company CNI reported first-quarter 2026 results, wherein earnings met the Zacks Consensus Estimate and revenues beat the same.
Earnings of $1.31 per share (C$1.87) met the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increased 1.6% year over year. Revenues amounted to $3.19 billion (C$4.38 billion), surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.8% and rose 4.1% year over year.
Revenue ton-miles (RTMs or a measure of volumes) increased 3% year over year. Carloads rose 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Freight revenues per RTM fell 3.4% year over year.
Canadian National Railway Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Canadian National Railway Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Canadian National Railway Company Quote
Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2026 increased by 1.3% to C$2.83 billion year over year. The operating income fell 2% from first-quarter 2025 actuals. The operating ratio, defined as operating expenses as a percentage of revenues on an adjusted basis, improved by 120 basis points to 64.6% in the first quarter of 2026.
CNI’s Q1 Segmental Highlights
Freight revenues, which contributed 97.4% to the top line, decreased 0.5% year over year. Freight revenues in petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, and intermodal rose 1.4%, 10.3% and 2.3%, year over year, respectively. Metals and minerals, forest products, coal and automotive fell 10.5%, 11% and 5.5% on a year-over-year basis.
Segment-wise, carloads in petroleum and chemicals, grain and fertilizers, intermodal and automotive segments increased 4%, 10%, 3% and 10% on a year-over-year basis.
Carloads in the metals and minerals remained flat on a year over year basis. The same in the forest products, coal and automotive segments decreased by 8%, 8% and 6% respectively on a year-over-year basis.
CNI’s Liquidity
Canadian National ended the first quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of C$573 million compared with C$350 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. CNI exited the March-end quarter with a long-term debt of C$20.5 billion compared with C$20.3 billion at the close of the December quarter of 2025.
CNI generated C$1.27 billion of cash from operating activities. Free cash flow was C$900 million.
Dividend Hiked
Highlighting its shareholder-friendly stance, the Canadian railroad operator’s board of directors approved a 3% increase in the 2026 dividend on the company's outstanding common shares. Following the increase, a quarterly dividend of C$0.9150 per share has been paid on Mar.31, 2026, and has approved for second quarter dividend of the same amount, to be paid on June 30, 2026, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 9, 2026. The earlier quarterly dividend was C$0.887. This is the 30th consecutive year of dividend increase.
CNI’s board also approved a new normal course issuer bid that permits the railroad to purchase, for cancellation, up to 24 million common shares, between Feb. 4, 2026, and Feb. 3, 2027.
CNI’s Outlook
For full-year 2026, CNI anticipates earnings per share (EPS) growth to slightly exceed the RTMs volume growth and plans to invest approximately C$2.8 billion in its capital program, net of amounts reimbursed by customers. Volume growth in terms of RTMs is anticipated to remain flat.
CNI’s Zacks Rank
Currently, CNI has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Q1 Performances of Other Transportation Companies
Delta Air Lines DAL reported first-quarter 2026 earnings (excluding $1.08 from non-recurring items) of 64 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents. Earnings increased 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. Revenues in the March-end quarter were $14.2 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14 billion and increasing on a year-over-year basis.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT posted first-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $1.49, up 27% from $1.17 a year ago. The result topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.04, reflecting a 2.8% surprise.
Operating revenues totaled $3.06 billion, rising 4.6% year over year. Revenues beat the consensus mark of $2.94 billion, resulting in a 3.9% surprise, as demand proved resilient across several service offerings, led by Intermodal volume growth and higher revenue per load in select highway-related businesses.
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).