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News Wire: CSX claims record-low operating ratio of 60.3

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, January 19, 2019 5:57 AM

charlie hebdo
These constant  and thinly veiled accusations that CSX or any other railroads are "cooking the books" are pretty specious, since so far nobody has offered any demonstrable proof of that.

And no one has offered any proof that they aren't.

Call it guilt by association - vulture capitalists such as Mantle Ridge have a history of looting companies - why should anyone assume that isn't occurring with CSX?

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Posted by kgbw49 on Saturday, January 19, 2019 1:23 AM

Actually some others of us are licensed accountants.

If an asset is sold for more than its depreciated book value, the gain on the sale is going to show up in an other revenue account, which will impact the bottom line and result in appropriate taxes being paid.

In the case of a railroad, a gain on sale of an asset will not show up in Operating Revenue or it would distort the Operating Ratio. The Operating Ratio is intended to measure the percentage of revenues from hauling freight that are used to pay for the costs of hauling freight. Revenues from such things as a gain on sale of an asset or interest earnings from investing cash balances are not revenues from hauling freight.

At the same time, all the cash from the sale is available to be used as the railroad determines - for capital investment, for dividends, for stock buybacks, for operational cash flow, etc.

So with the CSX Operating ratio of 60.3, I would think that any gain on the sale of an asset should not be included in the Operating Ratio calculation, but it should be included in calculation of Income Before Taxes.

This is based on a transaction in its simplest form. There can be different accounting  rules regarding deferrals, accruals, etc., that are specific to an individual industry. I am not a railroad accountant so am not familiar with any industry-specific rules. But if any asset sales such as line sales or locomotive sales are of the “plain vanilla” variety, they should impact the balance sheet and income statement as described above.

 

 

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Posted by zardoz on Friday, January 18, 2019 8:44 PM

charlie hebdo
at least some of us have enough coursework and some experience with audits and  financial documents to recognize "sour grapes."

Hard to believe that a corporation would use "Creative Accounting"; after all, isn't the business world known for its fair play and honesty?

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Friday, January 18, 2019 7:36 PM

tree68

 

 
charlie hebdo
The sale/disposal of assets is not treated as revenue. This is a non-operating or "other" item. 

 

Well, it's not supposed to be, anyhow...

 

These constant  and thinly veiled accusations that CSX or any other railroads are "cooking the books" are pretty specious, since so far nobody has offered any demonstrable proof of that. And yes, we all know the story of Arthur Anderson and Enron but that hardly proves that all financial statements are BS.  Other than JBS1, none of us are accountants, but at least some of us have enough coursework and some experience with audits and  financial documents to recognize "sour grapes."

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Posted by kgbw49 on Friday, January 18, 2019 7:05 PM

CSX 2018 Total Revenue - $12.250 Billion

CSX 2018 Net Income - $3.309 Billion

CSX Net Income as Percent of Revenue - 27.0%

That is a very good ratio of Net Income to Revenue for a capital intensive industry.

As a comparison, CN in 2016 (2018 is not available until January 29 and 2017 is distorted by one time tax gains from the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) had the following:

CN Total Revenue - C$12.037 Billion

CN Net Income - C$3.640 Billion

CN Percent of Net Income to Revenue - 30.2%

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, January 18, 2019 4:30 PM

charlie hebdo
The sale/disposal of assets is not treated as revenue. This is a non-operating or "other" item. 

Well, it's not supposed to be, anyhow...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by charlie hebdo on Friday, January 18, 2019 4:00 PM

Shadow the Cats owner

One reason why Revenue could have gone up Demurrage charges for cars that they never picked up after they got empty.  Or revenue from selling almost 700 engines in the 4th quarter alone.  

 

The sale/disposal of assets is not treated as revenue. This is a non-operating or "other" item. 

Perhaps JBS1 can instruct you.

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Friday, January 18, 2019 3:49 PM

One reason why Revenue could have gone up Demurrage charges for cars that they never picked up after they got empty.  Or revenue from selling almost 700 engines in the 4th quarter alone.  

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Friday, January 18, 2019 3:04 PM

petitnj

Low operating ratios are numbers that Wall Street understands. They went to MBA school and have used their expertise to save Toys R Us, Sears, and  many others. What low operating ratios really mean is that you are not spending enough to keep trains rolling and customers happy. 

 

Odd then that revenue is up.

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Posted by petitnj on Friday, January 18, 2019 2:29 PM

Low operating ratios are numbers that Wall Street understands. They went to MBA school and have used their expertise to save Toys R Us, Sears, and  many others. What low operating ratios really mean is that you are not spending enough to keep trains rolling and customers happy. 

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, January 17, 2019 6:15 PM

Wall Street didn't relish the news - CSX lost 29 cents a share today.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Thursday, January 17, 2019 6:13 PM

I seem to recall some on here making dire predictions: revenue would decline in step with service deterioration as customers fled.   But...

Revenue for the fourth quarter increased 10 percent over the prior year to $3.14 billion, supported by increases in fuel recovery, broad-based volume growth, pricing gains, higher supplemental revenue and favorable mix. Expenses increased 9 percent year over year to $1.89 billion, or 2 percent when 2017 results are adjusted for the impacts of restructuring and tax reform benefits. This combination yielded adjusted operating income growth of 25 percent for the quarter to $1.25 billion compared to $998 million in the same period last year.


Those inconvenient number are on a GAAP basis even if some want to claim them to be fictitious.

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Posted by zardoz on Thursday, January 17, 2019 8:29 AM

BaltACD

smoke, mirrors and a sharp pencil do wonders.

 

BaltACD, we can always count on you to cut through the felgercarb and see things as they really are.

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, January 17, 2019 8:10 AM

smoke, mirrors and a sharp pencil do wonders.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Thursday, January 17, 2019 7:50 AM

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Corp. today announced fourth quarter 2018 net earnings of $843 million, or $1.01 per share, versus $4,140 million, or $4.62 per share on a GAAP basis ($0.64 on an adjusted basis) in the same period last year. Fourth qua...

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/01/16-csx-claims-record-low-operating-ratio-of-603 

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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