CSX says more businesses are shipping via rail to avoid surging fuel costs

By Bill Peters

Rail operator says plastics shipments are strong, as domestic producers benefit from disruptions abroad. Data-center demand is also driving shipments.

CSX's stock is up 56% over the past 12 months.

Shares of CSX jumped after hours on Wednesday after the railroad giant raised its sales outlook for the year, as more businesses choose rail to save on fuel costs in the wake of the Iran war.

The gains in the stock came as Wall Street looks for signs of the war's impact on the broader economy and the shipping networks that drive it, as a weaker housing market and subdued auto production weigh on CSX's (CSX) business.

"Shippers are looking more to rail conversion as they weigh the impact of higher fuel and trucking costs," Maryclare Kenney, CSX's chief commercial officer, said during the company's earnings call. Trains can generally travel farther on a gallon of fuel than trucks.

Shares of the railroad operator, whose rail lines crisscross much of the eastern U.S., rose 7% after hours on Wednesday. That follows a 56% gain for CSX over the past 12 months, as of the close of trading.

CSX said it now expects full-year sales growth in the mid-single-digits, compared with earlier expectations for a low-single-digit gain.

The company earned 43 cents a share during the first quarter, compared with 34 cents a share in the prior-year quarter, and above Wall Street's estimates for 39 cents. Revenue rose 2% year over year to $3.48 billion, a bit below estimates for $3.49 billion.

Shipping volumes rose 3%. Kenney said CSX's chemicals segment got a lift from higher frac sand shipments, as data-center demand drives natural-gas production. Plastics shipments were also strong, as domestic producers benefit from shipping disruptions abroad.

Diesel prices currently sit at above $5 a gallon on average, raising the cost to ship goods. But other transportation companies have said they have ways around those higher costs.

Logistics and trucking service J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) last week said its intermodal service, which connects truck shipments with rail, had become "increasingly more attractive for customers." Executives also noted that fuel surcharges protected it from swings in fuel prices.

-Bill Peters

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04-22-26 2019ET