Canadian icon ready for its next surge

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $64 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 465.4 million; Market cap: $29.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; SI Rating: Above Average) operates the largest freight rail network in Canada. It also serves 16 U.S. states. Ottawa nationalized CN in 1922, as railways were critical to Canada’s early growth. CN became a publicly traded company in 1995. CN hauls grain and fertilizers (20% of its 2009 revenue), consumer and industrial goods (20%), petroleum products (19%), forest products (17%), metals and minerals (11%), coal (7%) and automotive products (6%). Revenue rose 17.2%, from $7.2 billion in 2005 to $8.5 billion in 2008, mainly due to acquisitions. However, 2009 revenue fell 13.1%, to $7.4 billion. Erratic earnings history CN’s earnings rose from $2.77 a share (or a total of $1.6 billion) in 2005 to $3.40 a share (or $1.8 billion) in 2006. Overall earnings fell to $1.7 billion in 2007, but per-share earnings remained flat…