CN Rail is updated but rated only Weak Buy / Hold at $138. It looks somewhat expensive but this has been a tremendous company to own over the long term and it will continue to increase earnings. It suffered an earnings decline with the pandemic but its volumes are now running higher than October of last year. And meanwhile they cut costs and have not called back all the laid off workers. I’d be more interested at a lower price but those holding it might be wise to resist the urge to sell and take profits.
Here are some interesting or perhaps startling statistics from CN:
They now use just 0.85 of a U.S. gallon of fuel to move each ton an average 1000 miles. That’s four to five times the fuel efficiency of transport trucks. Environmentalists should LOVE trains. And think about a regular pickup truck moving one ton 1000 miles. How many U.S. gallons would that be? At 10 miles per gallon it’s 100 gallons. At 15 miles per U.S. gallon it’s 67 gallons! Compare that to 0.85 for the train.
The average length of their trains in Q3 (and this is average not the longest) was 8,987 feet. That’s 1.7 miles or 2.7 kilometers. It’s not your imagination that trains have gotten longer.
Canadian National Railway Company is a very well-run operation. It is arguably the best-run rail road is North America.
Bill Gates is far and away its largest shareholder and has been for many years. He own 14% of the company personally and another 2.4% through his foundation. This, in part, is how the rich get richer.