
TSE:CNR
Rails have done fairly well recently and have had a bit of a pullback. His preference would be Canadian Pacific (CP-T) as he feels that they may have more efficiencies that they can push through. Both companies are trading at the upper end of their valuation range. Both companies are controlled by the supply side of things, so he wouldn’t enter at this time.
This is a terrific railway. A very well-run company. He is waiting for it to get a little bit cheaper. There is a little bit less crude going by rail now because of less activity, particularly in North Dakota. This is going to impact on the railways profits. It is a little expensive right now. He prefers CSX Corp. (CSX-N), which has less commodity exposure and more intermodal exposure.
All the North American rail companies have struggled in the last 3-4 months. They all have different levels of intermodal and commodity businesses, but by and large it has been a weakening economic activity in the US. Thinks GDP growth is going to come back later in the year for both the US and Canada. Look for a really good entry point later this year on all of the rails.
Over the last few years, we have seen the rails do so well that he no longer owns any of them. This has underperformed Canadian Pacific (CP-T) recently, making it a somewhat better value. In the long run, rails can only grow as fast as the economy, although there are occasional areas of growth such as shipping oil by rail. If it got under $70, he would be looking at it.
Some of the rails in Canada have done extremely well until recently. They started to flat line and then fall. This one has fallen below its 200 day moving average, which signals that something is up with the stock. Thinks some of the rail shipments, in terms of volume, are a little bit lower than normal. He would wait to see where it goes.