Benzinga | Oct 21, 2021 12:12PM EDT

Union Pacific Clocks 13% Revenue Growth In Q3, Business Volumes Remain Flat

* Union Pacific Corp (NYSE:UNP) reported third-quarter operating revenue growth of 13.2% year-over-year to $5.57 billion, beating the consensus of $5.42 billion.

* Freight Revenues increased by 12% Y/Y to $5.17 billion, with Bulk +14%, Industrial +22%, and Premium +1%.

* Business volumes, as measured by total revenue carloads, were flat.

* EPS improved to $2.57 from $2.01 in 3Q20, beating the consensus of $2.50.

* Operating expenses increased by 8.5% Y/Y to $3.13 billion, and the operating ratio was 56.3% compared to 58.7% a year ago.

* Operating income increased by 20% Y/Y to $2.43 billion, and margin expanded by 240 bps to 43.7%.

* Union Pacific generated cash from operating activities year-to-date of $6.5 billion, compared to $5.99 billion a year ago. Free cash flow of $2.67 billion.

* Network operations challenged by wildfires and other weather events reflected in quarterly freight car velocity of 195 daily miles per car, a 13% decline.

* Adjusted debt / Adjusted EBITDA for the Trailing Twelve Months stood at 2.8.

* Quarterly workforce productivity was 1,044 car miles per employee, an improvement of 5%; Average maximum train length was 9,359 feet, a 4% increase. Average Revenue per Car increased 12% Y/Y to $2,528.

* "The Union Pacific team successfully navigated global supply chain disruptions, a major bridge outage, and additional weather events to produce strong quarterly revenue growth and financial results," said CEO Lance Fritz.

* Price Action: UNP shares are trading higher by 0.41% at $229.2 on Thursday.