Despite these setbacks, CPKC posted a 7% year-over-year profit increase. The 4 categories that had the most important impact were grains, energy, plastics and chemicals, and so they increased sales by 11%. CPKC says shipping wheat from the Canadian and American prairies to Mexico over the past 12 months was precisely the form of “synergy gain” it had hoped for when the previous Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern in 2021. This railway stays the just one spanning Canada, the United States and Mexico.
CNR CEO Tracy Robinson commented on the operational challenges of the railway. “Our proposed operating plan demonstrated its resilience in the third quarter, allowing us to adapt our operations to the challenges presented by wildfires and ongoing labor issues,” she said. “Our operations recovered quickly and the railway is running well. As we close out 2024, we will remain focused on restoring volumes, growing and ensuring our resources are aligned with demand.”
CNR’s revenue increased 3% year-over-year; However, increased expenses caused the corporate’s operating ratio to extend by 1.1% to 63.1% (suggesting that expenses are increasing as a percentage of sales). The railroad said it will increase its quarterly dividend from $0.79 to $0.845. This increase of nearly 7% is consistent with CNR’s mission to conservatively increase its dividend payouts annually.
For more details about these railways, see my article about Canadian Railway Stocks at MillionDollarJourney.ca.
Canada’s Best Dividend Stocks
Tough day for Rogers
The lack of sales on Thursday left some Rogers shareholders shaking their heads.
Rogers Earnings Highlights
This is what the foremost cell phone company reported this week:
- Rogers Communications (RCI/TSX): Earnings per share of $1.42 (vs. $1.34 forecast) and revenue of $5.13 billion (vs. $5.17 forecast).
While the solid earnings numbers dampened a few of the sentiment, Rogers’ share price fell 3% on Thursday. Lower numbers than expected for brand new mobile customers were the rationale for the low sales growth. The oligopolistic Canadian wireless market stays unusually competitive as Rogers, Telus and Bell proceed to fight for market share. This competition is currently hurting the profit margins of all three telecom giants. (Different than in previous yearswhen all three telecommunications firms rejoiced charging a few of the highest cellular phone tariffs on the earth.)
A highlight for Rogers was vertical sports revenue, which increased 11% in comparison with last quarter. Rogers has really doubled down on its sports media strategy in recent times and now owns a majority stake in:
- Toronto Blue Jays within the Major League Baseball League (MLB)
- Toronto Maple Leafs within the National Hockey League (NHL)
- Toronto Raptors within the National Basketball Association (NBA)
- Toronto FC in Major League Soccer (MLS)
- Toronto Argonauts within the Canadian Football League (CFL)
- SportsNet, a significant Canadian sports network
- Toronto venues Rogers Center and Scotiabank Arena
- Naming rights for sports venues in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver
- National NHL media rights in Canada
- Local media rights to the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers
- Partial local media rights to the Maple Leafs and Raptors
- Multiple minor league franchises and esports (gaming) teams
Although Rogers owns all of those well-known sports properties, it’s value noting that Rogers’ wireless and cable divisions accounted for nearly 90% of revenue, while sports and media accounted for the remaining.
