Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) Q1 2022 - Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2022

April 27, 2022 8:45 a.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to Norfolk Southern Corporation’s First Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder this conference is being recorded.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Meghan Achimasi, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Meghan Achimasi - Senior Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Please note that during today’s call we will make certain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties and may differ materially from actual results. Please refer to our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC for a full discussion of those risks and uncertainties we view as most important.

Our presentation slides are available at nscorp.com in the Investors section along with our reconciliation of non-GAAP measures used today to the comparable GAAP measures. Our full transcripts and download will be posted after the call.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Norfolk Southern’s President, Alan Shaw.

Alan Shaw - President

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Norfolk Southern's first quarter 2022 earnings call. I am joined today by Cindy Sanborn, Chief Operating Officer; Ed Elkins, Chief Marketing Officer; and Mark George, Chief Financial Officer.

I would like to start by recognizing the contributions of Norfolk Southern's employees who have worked safely and tirelessly to serve our customers and a challenging supply chain environment. I sincerely appreciate the commitment of our employees to Norfolk Southern and our customers.

Norfolk Southern delivered solid financial performance in the first quarter with record first quarter revenue, earnings per share and net income. While our operating and marketing teams worked around the clock with our customers to address current network challenges and a dynamic supply chain.

We know we need to improve service and are committed to increasing network fluidity and restoring service to levels our customers deserve. Cindy will share updates on our accelerated hiring and progress of our new operating plan, TOP SPG. Viewing the results for the quarter, you'll note that revenue increased 10% as a 16% increase in revenue per unit more than offset a 5% volume decline.

Expenses grew over $200 million or 13% year-over-year, due primarily to a sharp increase in fuel price. Higher fuel costs, along with slower network velocity and reduced volume contributed to an increase in our operating ratio, which was up 130 basis points versus last year's first quarter record. We remain confident in our ability to improve service while simultaneously delivering productivity and growth. Our outlook is bright.