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Operates a major freight railroad network across the eastern United States.
Operates a major freight railroad network across the eastern United States.
Is paid per shipment, with rates set by distance, commodity and contract, and kept in check by what customers could pay a trucker instead. It agreed in 2025 to combine with Union Pacific, a deal needing approval from the Surface Transportation Board. The 2023 East Palestine derailment brought regulatory scrutiny and cost.
Moat: wide (scale, regulatory licence, installed base). Owning irreplaceable eastern US rail rights-of-way makes it a natural duopoly on many routes with CSX.
Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia, United States · Founded: 1982 · Employees: 19,300
Size Norfolk Southern (NSC) is a United States Industrials company (Railroads) with a market value of $71.9B, the 190th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $319.94 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 2.5%, against +11.0% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — lowest of 7 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.0% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.7%); the operating margin is 32.5% (peer median 37.2%).
Valuation It trades at 22.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 20.3× (2nd most expensive of 7).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 17% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +4%, so the hurdle is +12 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.7 points above its cost of capital (9.8% WACC).
Credit Norfolk Southern has 32 bonds outstanding ($16.8B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A at a weighted spread of 77 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 3.2% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 27 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $13.0B | $12.2B | $12.1B | $12.2B | $12.7B |
| Revenue growth | — | 0% | 0% | -5% | — |
| Gross profit | $4.22B | $3.95B | $3.76B | $2.81B | $4.73B |
| EBITDA | $5.64B | $5.34B | $5.12B | $4.11B | $5.95B |
| Net income | $2.68B | $2.87B | $2.62B | $1.82B | $3.27B |
| Free cash flow | $1.65B | $2.16B | $28.0M | $830M | $2.27B |
| Capital expenditure | $2.14B | $2.20B | $4.02B | $2.35B | $1.95B |
| Total debt | $16.6B | $17.8B | $18.0B | $18.1B | $16.1B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk Southern NSC | $71.9B | +3% | +6% | 33% | 22.6× | 16.6% |
| CSX CSX | $90.5B | +10% | +6% | 36% | 21.5× | 13.6% |
| Union Pacific UNP | $172B | +10% | +7% | 40% | 20.7× | 8.8% |
| Canadian National Railway CNR.TO | $75.0B | +16% | +7% | 38% | 20.0× | 9.4% |
| J.B. Hunt JBHT | $20.3B | -11% | +11% | 7% | 24.3× | 16.8% |
| Canadian Pacific Kansas City CP.TO | $80.6B | +12% | +7% | 37% | 23.0× | 17.4% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | NSC | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +0.9% | +7.6% | lowest of 7 |
| 6-month return | +2.5% | +11.0% | lowest of 7 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -10.8% | -6.8% | lowest of 7 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.0% | +6.7% | 3rd lowest of 7 |
| Operating margin | 32.5% | 37.2% | 2nd lowest of 7 |
| Forward P/E | 22.6× | 20.3× | 2nd most expensive of 7 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 16.6% | 9.4% | 2nd most demanding of 6 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +4.5% | +5.9% | lowest of 6 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +12.2 pp | +4.2 pp | most demanding of 6 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +0.7 pp | +2.5 pp | 3rd lowest of 7 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.4× | 15.3× | 2nd most expensive of 6 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.7× | 2.5× | 3rd most indebted of 6 |
| Bond spread | 77 bp | 71 bp | 2nd widest of 5 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norfolk Southern NSC | United States | $71.9B | +3% | +6% | 33% | 22.6× | 16.6% | +4.5% |
| Canadian National Railway CNR.TO | Canada | $75.0B | +16% | +7% | 38% | 20.0× | 9.4% | +4.6% |
| Canadian Pacific Kansas City CP.TO | Canada | $80.6B | +12% | +7% | 37% | 23.0× | 17.4% | +14.4% |
| CSX CSX | United States | $90.5B | +10% | +6% | 36% | 21.5× | 13.6% | +5.9% |
| Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway 601816.SS | China | $39.3B | +9% | +3% | 44% | 18.7× | -2.8% | +11.3% |
| Union Pacific UNP | United States | $172B | +10% | +7% | 40% | 20.7× | 8.8% | +4.6% |
| East Japan Railway 9020.T | Japan | $27.4B | +13% | +9% | 14% | 15.8× | n/a | n/a |
Norfolk Southern has 32 bonds outstanding with $16.8B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A. Weighted yield 5.82%, a spread of 77 bp over government bonds.