Earnings Preview: Union Pacific Corporation

Union Pacific Corporation (UNP) is expected to report Q3 earnings before market open Thursday, October 23, with a conference call scheduled for 8:45 am ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for a profit of $1.30 on revenue of $4.74B. The consensus range for EPS is $1.28 to $1.33, and revenue of $4.65B to $4.85B, according to First Call. Union Pacific raised its Q3 EPS guidance to $1.28 to $1.33 from $1.10 to $1.20, on September 22. The Q3 EPS consensus is $1.30. The company cited lower fuel costs as the reason for the upgrade.

Analyst Views

Union Pacific was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform by Morgan Keegan. The firm also downgraded Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) and Norfolk Southern (NSC), along with Union Pacific citing moderating 2009 pricing growth and flat volumes. On October 17, JP Morgan added Union Pacific to its list of 16 stocks to own over the next 12 to 18 months.