Canadian Pacific Kansas City on Wednesday reported higher fourth-quarter profits on freight volumes that narrowly improved.
“Our story is about continuing to do what we do best: Controlling what we can control, and executing our PSR model, which remains key to setting CPKC (NYSE: CP) apart and allows us to shine in times of uncertainty,” Chief Executive Keith Creel said on the railway’s earnings call, referring to the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model. “We saw that in the results in the last quarter. We’ll continue to see that in 2026.”
For the quarter, operating income grew 3%, to US$1.19 billion, as revenue increased 1%, to $2.89 billion. Earnings per share, adjusted for the impact of one-time items, increased 3%, to 98 cents.
Quarterly expenses were flat. The railway’s 58.9% operating ratio set a quarterly record for CPKC and was a 0.8-point improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.
Fourth-quarter volume was flat on the basis of revenue ton-miles but up 1% when measured by carloads and intermodal containers. On a carload basis, coal and intermodal were the only business segments to see growth. Grain and potash carloads were flat, while CPKC’s remaining business segments declined.
Chief Marketing Officer John Brooks said that U.S. tariffs continue to weigh on CPKC’s Canadian forest products traffic as well as cross-border steel shipments. The railway is counting on forecast bumper grain crops in Canada and the U.S. to boost volumes this year.
The railway’s Mexico Midwest Express flagship intermodal service, which links Chicago with points in Mexico, continues to grow, with volume up 40% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, Brooks said.
CPKC and CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) will launch dedicated intermodal trains connecting Mexico and Dallas with Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla. “The SMX train pairs will formally launch in the coming months and will offer the fastest, most reliable service product in these lanes,” Brooks said.
Brooks says CPKC is in talks with one domestic intermodal customer who plans on using the service for up to 80,000 loads per year, which translates into 219 containers per day.
The service will use the CPKC-CSX interchange at Myrtlewood, Ala., on the former Meridian & Bigbee short line that is now a link between the two Class I systems.
“Over the past two years, this franchise has outperformed the industry in revenue growth, outperformed the industry in earnings growth,” Creel says. “We’ve got an exciting setup to continue to generate industry leading performance in 2026 as well.”
CPKC expects revenue ton-mile growth of around 5% this year, along with earnings per share growth of 10% or higher. The railway plans to spend $1.96 billion U.S. on capital projects in 2026.
Chief Operating Officer Mark Redd said the railway will continue to add centralized traffic control and additional and extended passing sidings on its north-south corridor between Shreveport, La., and Chicago.
CPKC’s key operational metrics all improved for the quarter, with car miles per day increasing 7%, to 136. “The network is performing at record levels,” Redd said.
The railway also improved its safety metrics in 2025, with personal injury rate down 3% and the train accident rate down 16%, which executives said once again leads the industry in North America.
For the full year, CPKC’s revenue ton-miles were up 4%, while volume grew 3% when measured by carloads and containers. CPKC’s 2025 operating income increased 8%, to $4.13 billion, while revenue grew 4%, to $11.12 billion. Earnings per share increased 13%, to $3.33.
The 2025 operating ratio was 62.8%, an improvement of 1.6 points compared to 2024.
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