Norfolk Southern's Q3 Earnings Preview

On Wednesday, Norfolk Southern NSC will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Norfolk Southern is included in the following report.

Earnings and Revenue

Wall Street expects EPS of $2.44 and sales around $2.92 billion.

Norfolk Southern reported a profit of $1.75 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $2.67 billion. If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Wednesday, EPS would be up 39.43 percent. Sales would be up 9.36 percent from the same quarter last year. Norfolk Southern's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 23.5 percent. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release. Analyst estimates are adjusted higher for EPS and revenues over the past 90 days. Analysts generally rate Norfolk Southern stock as Neutral. The strength of this rating has maintained conviction over the past three months.

Conference Call

Don't be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Norfolk Southern's Q3 conference call is scheduled to begin at 8:45 a.m. ET and can be accessed here: http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/get-to-know-norfolk-southern/investor-relations/presentations.html