Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 26, 2024 8:45 AM ET

Company Participants

Luke Nichols - Senior Director, Investor Relations

Alan Shaw - President and Chief Executive Officer

Mark George - Chief Financial Officer

Paul Duncan - Chief Operating Officer

Ed Elkins - Chief Marketing Officer

Conference Call Participants

Chris Wetherbee - Citigroup

Ken Hoexter - Bank of America

Scott Group - Wolfe Research

Amit Mehrotra - Deutsche Bank

Jon Chappell - Evercore ISI

Tom Wadewitz - UBS

Brian Ossenbeck - JPMorgan

Brandon Oglenski - Barclays

Justin Long - Stephens Inc.

Jason Seidl - TD Cowen

Allison Poliniak - Wells Fargo

Jordan Alliger - Goldman Sachs

Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley

David Vernon - Bernstein

Walter Spracklin - RBC Capital Markets

Bascome Majors - Susquehanna International Group

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Norfolk Southern Corporation Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It's now my pleasure to introduce Luke Nichols, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Thank you. Mr. Nichols, you may begin.

Luke Nichols

Thank you, and good morning, everyone.

Please note that during today's call, we will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or future performance of Norfolk Southern Corporation, 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 disclosure of those risks and uncertainties we view as the most important. Our presentation slides are available at norfolksouthern.com in the Investors section, along with the reconciliation of any non-GAAP measures used today to comparable GAAP measures.

Turning to Slide 3, it's now my pleasure to introduce Norfolk Southern's President and Chief Executive Officer, Alan Shaw.

Alan Shaw

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Norfolk Southern's fourth quarter 2023 earnings call.

Here with me today are Mark George, our Chief Financial Officer; Paul Duncan, our Chief Operating Officer; and Ed Elkins, our Chief Marketing Officer.

Last year was historically challenging, with a major derailment to start off the year, followed by network disruptions and compounded by a stubbornly weak freight market. The Eastern Ohio incident tested our resolve. I'm proud that our team responded decisively and responsibly to protect this great franchise and our shareholders, and to address the community's concerns.