Yahoo Finance Norfolk Southern (NSC) Hits 52-Week High: What's Driving it?
Shares of Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC hit a 52-week high of $146.97 during the trading session on Jan 2, before retracing a bit to close the same at $146.96. Notably, the company’s shares performed well in 2017. The stock has surged 34.1%, outperforming the industry’s 30.4% rally.
Reasons Behind the Upside
Norfolk Southern has been making constant efforts to streamline its operations in order to increase productivity. It is looking to cut costs to drive the bottom line. Evidently, its operating ratio has improved 130 basis points on a year-to-date basis. Moreover, the company aims to achieve an operating ratio falling below 65% by 2020 or even earlier. Additionally, annual productivity savings to the tune of $650 million are expected by 2020.
The company’s focus on rewarding shareholders through share repurchases and dividends are also impressive. Notably, Norfolk Southern has paid dividends for 141 consecutive quarters. In a bid to enhance shareholders’ value, the company’s board of directors approved a new share buyback program only last September. The company is now authorized to buy back an additional 50 million shares through Dec 31, 2022. Last January, the company raised its quarterly cash dividend by 3% to 61 cents per share (annualized $2.44).
Norfolk Southern has an impressive earnings history, having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters with an average beat of 5.9%. The stock has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter of 2017 earnings being revised 1.3% upward over the last 90 days. Moreover, for 2017, the same has moved 1.7% north over the same time frame.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Norfolk Southern carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. GOL, LATAM Airlines Group S.A. LTM and SkyWest, Inc. SKYW. While Gol Linhas and LATAM Airlines sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), SkyWest carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of Gol Linhas, LATAM Airlines and SkyWest have surged around 221%, 69% and 45%, respectively, in 2017.
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Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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