Canadian Pacific's earnings are up nearly 300 percent - Date unknown Colleen De Neve.

10 April 2012

Canadian Pacific Sees First Quarter Profit Far Above Expectations

Calgary Alberta - Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, in the midst of a bruising fight over performance with its biggest shareholder, forecast a fourfold increase in first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, well ahead of analysts' expectations.
 
CP, Canada's second-biggest railroad, said it expects to report first-quarter diluted earnings per share in the range of 80 to 83 cents, about 300 percent above its 2011 first-quarter EPS.
 
That is also far ahead of the 65 cents that analysts, on average, were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.
 
"This is well above what people are expecting. Execution obviously was strong," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Fadi Chamoun.
 
Even so, CP's stock remained weak on the Toronto Stock Exchange, down 2.4 percent at $72.90. Chamoun noted that all the rail stocks in North America were weak.
 
CP is due to report first-quarter results on 20 Apr 2012.
 
CP's year-earlier first-quarter profit plunged 67 percent due to harsh winter weather, which included avalanches and heavy snow in British Columbia, the Canadian Prairies, and the U.S. Midwest. Its EPS dropped to 20 cents.
 
CP said on Tuesday it delivered record operating performance figures in the first quarter of 2012 with improvements not only over the year-before quarter but also over the average of the previous three years' first quarters. It noted double-digit percentage improvements in train speeds, terminal dwell, active cars online, and car miles per car day.
 
The strong operating performance continued into April, CP said in a statement.
 
"The record operating metrics are now driving improved financial results. This is evidence that our multi-year plan is the right strategy to produce value for our shareholders," CP chief executive Fred Green said.
 
CP's biggest shareholder, Pershing Square Capital Management, wants to replace Green with the former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co, Hunter Harrison.
 
Pershing says Harrison will do a better job of improving CP's operating performance, which has been at the bottom of its class.
 
Pershing owns about 14 percent of CP's shares.
 
CP shareholders will vote for either CP's slate of directors or Pershing's alternative slate at the railroad's annual meting on 17 May 2012.