CSX Corporation (CSX) — Company Research

Last Updated: 28 August 2026

CSX runs roughly 21,000 route miles of railroad across the eastern United States, and for the last three years it has been a business with falling revenue and a widening operating ratio. That reversed sharply in 2026. Second-quarter revenue of $3.94bn, reported on 22 July 2026, was a quarterly record, operating income rose 17% and the operating ratio improved to about 61.7% from 64.1%. Sitting over all of it is the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger, which CSX formally opposes and which the Surface Transportation Board has now pushed to a final decision in the second quarter of 2027. This report sets out what the filings say, without ratings or price targets. For live pricing see our Live Charts page.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Company	CSX Corporation
Ticker / exchange	CSX (NASDAQ)
Headquarters	Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Sector	Class I freight railroad (industrials / transportation)
CEO / Leadership	Steve Angel (President & Chief Executive Officer since September 2025, previously Chief Executive of Linde plc); Kevin S. Boone (Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer since 29 October 2025)
Employees	Approximately 23,000 as at December 2025, of whom roughly 16,900 are covered by rail labour union agreements
Network	Approximately 21,000 route miles serving 26 states, the District of Columbia, Ontario and Quebec; connections to roughly 250 short-line railroads and more than 70 ports
Revenue (FY2025)	$14,092m, down 3.1% year on year
Net income (FY2025)	$2,889m (GAAP); operating income $4,521m, operating ratio 67.9%
Latest reported period	Q2 2026, quarter ended 30 June 2026, reported 22 July 2026
Revenue (Q2 2026)	$3,935m, a quarterly record, up 10% year on year
Share price	$51.54 (27 August 2026)
Market cap	Approximately $95.48bn
Shares outstanding	1,852,474,917 (10-Q cover page, 30 June 2026)
Dividend	$0.14 per share per quarter, $0.56 annualised, raised 7.6% on 26 February 2026
Fiscal year end	31 December

2. Bull and Bear Case

Bull Case

• The margin story has turned: Q2 2026 operating income of $1.51bn was up 17% on revenue up 10%, taking the operating ratio to roughly 61.7% from 64.1% a year earlier — a 240 basis point improvement in a single year.
• Volume is growing again after three flat years: total volume rose 6% to 1.676m units in Q2 2026, with intermodal up 9%, merchandise up 4% and coal up 4%, against a FY2025 in which total volume was flat at 6.307m units.
• Guidance was raised, not trimmed: on the Q2 2026 call management moved to mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth, more than 350 basis points of operating margin expansion and more than 80% free cash flow growth for FY2026, with capital expenditure held below $2.4bn.
• Capital return is accelerating: the board raised the quarterly dividend 7.6% to $0.14 in February 2026 and authorised a new $5bn buyback, the largest in company history, on top of roughly $989m remaining under the prior programme.
• Bottleneck capital projects are behind it: the expanded Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore reopened ahead of schedule and unlocks double-stack intermodal on the I-95 corridor, while the $450m Blue Ridge Subdivision rebuild after Hurricane Helene has been completed.

Bear Case

• Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern would create a transcontinental competitor: the roughly $85bn merger is still live, CSX is a formal opponent, and the Surface Transportation Board's revised schedule now runs to a final decision expected in the second quarter of 2027 — nearly a year of unresolved strategic overhang.
• Coal is structurally shrinking: coal revenue fell 15% to $1,900m in FY2025 on a 13% fall in revenue per unit, and remains roughly 13% of group revenue with no structural recovery in prospect despite a Q2 2026 bounce from export mine restarts.
• Revenue has fallen for three consecutive years: from $14,853m in FY2022 to $14,092m in FY2025, with GAAP diluted EPS down from $1.92 to $1.54 over the same span.
• Fuel surcharge is flattering the top line: Q2 2026 fuel surcharge revenue nearly doubled to $410m from $222m, while fuel lag was $54m unfavourable in the quarter — a swing factor that works both ways and is not a pricing win.
• Insiders have been selling into strength: the Chief Financial Officer sold 136,708 shares in June 2026 and the Chief Accounting Officer sold 30,000 shares in July 2026, both into a share price approaching the 52-week high of $53.60.

3. Revenue Segments

CSX reports revenue by commodity market rather than by operating division. The table below uses the FY2025 volume and revenue disclosure on total revenue of $14,092m and total volume of 6.307m units.

Segment / commodity market	% of revenue	What it is
Merchandise	62.3% ($8,773m)	Chemicals $2,776m, agricultural and food products $1,618m, automotive $1,182m, forest products $975m, metals and equipment $869m, minerals $832m and fertilisers $521m. 2.594m carloads at average revenue per unit of $3,382
Intermodal	14.7% ($2,073m)	Containerised domestic and international freight moved for shippers and steamship lines. The largest volume category at 2.995m units, but the lowest revenue per unit at $692
Coal	13.5% ($1,900m)	Domestic utility and export metallurgical coal. 718,000 carloads; revenue fell 15% in FY2025 as revenue per unit dropped 13% to $2,646 on weaker benchmark export pricing
Trucking	5.8% ($816m)	The Quality Carriers bulk trucking business, reported separately from rail volume
Other	3.8% ($530m)	Demurrage, storage, switching, equipment usage and other ancillary rail revenue

In Q2 2026 the mix was broadly unchanged but every line grew: merchandise $2,446m (62.2%), intermodal $620m (15.8%, up 26% year on year), coal $520m (13.2%), trucking $226m (5.7%) and other $123m (3.1%).

4. Business Model and Moat

How it makes money. CSX charges shippers to move freight over track it owns, and the economics are a fixed-cost leverage story. Revenue per unit averaged $2,234 across FY2025; the variable cost of adding a car to an existing train is small, so incremental volume and pricing fall heavily to operating income. That is exactly what the 2026 numbers show — 10% revenue growth converting into 17% operating income growth in Q2 2026.

Where the moat sits. The right of way is effectively irreplaceable. No one is going to assemble a competing 21,000-mile eastern network, and for bulk and heavy freight the alternative is trucking at several times the cost per ton-mile. Roughly two-thirds of the United States population lives in the territory CSX serves, and the network connects to about 250 short lines and more than 70 ports, which makes it the default first and last mile for a large share of eastern industrial freight.

What management controls. The operating ratio is the scoreboard, and CSX runs a precision-scheduled-railroad operating model aimed at train length, asset velocity and dwell. FY2025 came in at 67.9% reported and 66.8% adjusted; Q2 2026 was approximately 61.7%. The improvement has come from network fluidity restored after the Howard Street Tunnel and Blue Ridge rebuilds, cost discipline under a new chief executive, and volume leverage.

Capital intensity. This is a capital-hungry business: capital expenditure was $2,902m in FY2025 against $4,613m of operating cash flow, and guidance for FY2026 is below $2.4bn. Roughly 16,900 unionised employees sit under national labour agreements, which caps how quickly the cost base can be flexed.

5. Financial Health

All figures below are taken from CSX Corporation's quarterly financial reports and earnings releases filed with the SEC and from the company's XBRL financial data.

Fiscal Year	Revenue ($m)	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	12,522	+18.3%	$1.68	$1.68†	$0.37	$16,185m
FY2022	14,853	+18.6%	$1.92	$1.92†	$0.40	$17,896m
FY2023	14,657	−1.3%	$1.82	$1.82†	$0.44	$17,975m
FY2024	14,540	−0.8%	$1.79	$1.79†	$0.48	$17,897m
FY2025	14,092	−3.1%	$1.54	$1.61	$0.52	$18,165m

† CSX published no non-GAAP earnings per share measure for FY2021 through FY2024; the GAAP figure is repeated in those years. The FY2025 adjusted figure of $1.61 excludes a $164m goodwill impairment charge taken in the third quarter and a $50m severance and technology rationalisation charge taken in the fourth quarter. Long-term debt is the non-current balance; adding the current portion gives total debt and finance lease obligations of $18,873m at 31 December 2025 and $18,864m at 30 June 2026.

Quarter / Half	Revenue ($m)	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q2 2026	3,935	$0.54†	$0.54
Q1 2026	3,482	$0.43†	$0.43
Q4 2025	3,508	$0.39†	$0.39
Q3 2025	3,587	$0.37†	$0.37
FY2025 total	14,092	$1.61	$1.54

† CSX reconciles to an adjusted figure on an annual basis only; the GAAP figure is repeated for the individual quarters. Note that the Q3 2025 GAAP figure of $0.37 carries the $164m goodwill impairment and the Q4 2025 figure of $0.39 carries the $50m severance and technology charge.

Cash flow and balance sheet. Operating cash flow was $4,613m in FY2025 and $2,599m in the first half of 2026, against $1,890m in the comparable prior period. Capital expenditure was $2,902m in FY2025 and $1,119m in the first half of 2026. Depreciation and amortisation was $1,680m in FY2025 and $826m in the first half of 2026. At 30 June 2026 the balance sheet carried $1,007m of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash plus $383m of short-term investments, against $17,162m of long-term debt and finance lease obligations and $1,702m of the current portion, on total assets of $44,726m, total liabilities of $30,638m and total equity of $14,088m. The company also has an undrawn $1.2bn five-year unsecured revolving credit facility.

Capital return. CSX repurchased 44m shares for $1,376m in FY2025 at an average $30.95, and 12m shares for $506m in the first half of 2026 at an average $42.31. Diluted share count has fallen from 2,255m in FY2021 to 1,859m in Q2 2026, a reduction of roughly 18% in five years.

6. Valuation Metrics

Raw metrics, August 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Share price	$51.54 (27 August 2026)
Market cap	~$95.48bn (1,852.5m shares at $51.54)
Enterprise value	~$112.95bn (market cap ~$95.48bn + total debt ~$18.86bn, being $17.16bn non-current plus $1.70bn current, − cash and restricted cash $1.01bn and short-term investments $0.38bn, all per the 30 June 2026 balance sheet)
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~29.8x ($51.54 divided by trailing twelve-month GAAP diluted EPS of $1.73, being Q3 2025 $0.37, Q4 2025 $0.39, Q1 2026 $0.43 and Q2 2026 $0.54). Adding back the FY2025 goodwill impairment and severance charges takes the trailing figure to roughly 28.6x
P/E (forward)	~22.7x, based on a forward earnings per share estimate of $2.27. CSX issues no earnings per share guidance of its own; management guides to mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth, more than 350 basis points of operating margin expansion and more than 80% free cash flow growth for FY2026
P/S (TTM)	~6.6x (market cap ~$95.48bn / trailing twelve-month revenue $14,512m, being FY2025 $14,092m − H1 2025 $6,997m + H1 2026 $7,417m)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~17.1x (EV ~$112.95bn / trailing twelve-month EBITDA of $6,610m; EBITDA = trailing operating income $4,956m + trailing depreciation and amortisation $1,654m taken from the cash flow statement)
P/FCF	~34.1x (market cap ~$95.48bn / free cash flow ~$2,796m; FCF = trailing operating cash flow $5,322m − trailing capital expenditure $2,526m per the cash flow statement)
Price/book	~6.8x (market cap ~$95.48bn / total shareholders' equity of $14,088m at 30 June 2026)
52-week high	$53.60
52-week low	$31.80
Short interest (% of float)	1.86% (34.31m shares short against a 1,848.6m share float, settlement date 14 August 2026)
Days to cover	2.58
Dividend yield	~1.09% ($0.56 annualised at $51.54)

7. What Are They Building

Double-stack capacity into Baltimore. The rebuilt and expanded Howard Street Tunnel reopened ahead of schedule and, with the associated overpass clearance work, allows double-stacked containers to move on the I-95 corridor for the first time. CSX has framed the project as adding roughly 160,000 containers a year of capacity at the Port of Baltimore.

The Blue Ridge Subdivision rebuild. The North Carolina and Tennessee line destroyed by Hurricane Helene was reconstructed in a roughly $450m programme and returned to service, restoring a route that had been forcing traffic onto longer detours and hurting service metrics.

Coast-to-coast intermodal with BNSF. Rather than merge, CSX and BNSF built a commercial partnership, announced in August 2025, offering seamless interline intermodal services on lanes including Southern California to Charlotte and Jacksonville, Phoenix to Atlanta, and the Port of New York and New Jersey to Norfolk and Kansas City. Intermodal revenue was up 26% year on year in Q2 2026, the fastest-growing line in the business.

Cost and network productivity under new leadership. Steve Angel arrived from Linde plc, where operating discipline was the signature, and the 240 basis point operating ratio improvement in Q2 2026 is the first visible evidence of that programme. Management's own FY2026 target is more than 350 basis points of operating margin expansion.

8. Competitive Landscape

CSX competes primarily with Norfolk Southern in the eastern United States, with the western carriers for interline traffic, and with trucking for anything that can move by road. Market capitalisations below were checked live on 27–28 August 2026.

Peer	Market cap (August 2026)	Key 2025 metric
Union Pacific (UNP)	~$182.78bn	Trailing twelve-month revenue of $25.41bn; pursuing the roughly $85bn acquisition of Norfolk Southern, still awaiting Surface Transportation Board approval
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP)	~$82.51bn	Trailing twelve-month revenue of $15.45bn; the only existing United States–Mexico–Canada single-line network and a formal opponent of the UP–NS merger
Norfolk Southern (NSC)	~$78.15bn	Trailing twelve-month revenue of $12.54bn; shares reached an all-time closing high in late August 2026 on merger-premium pricing
Canadian National (CNI)	~$76.51bn	Trailing twelve-month revenue of $17.76bn; dropped its opposition to the UP–NS merger on 22 July 2026 in exchange for Kansas City trackage-rights concessions
J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT)	~$24.74bn	Trailing twelve-month revenue of $12.70bn; the largest domestic intermodal marketing company and both a customer and a truckload competitor

BNSF Railway, CSX's largest western interline partner, is a wholly owned Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary and does not trade separately. Kansas City Southern no longer trades independently following the formation of CPKC.

9. Insider Activity

President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Angel does not appear in the 2026 open-market transaction record. The filings that do appear are disposals by other officers and a director, clustered in June and July 2026 as the share price approached its 52-week high. All entries are drawn from Form 4 filings under CIK 277948.

Name	Date	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Plan Type
Angela C. Williams (VP & Chief Accounting Officer)	24 Jul 2026	Sell	30,000	$53.29 weighted avg	~$1.60m	Not stated on filing summary
Michael S. Burns (SVP, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary)	24 Jul 2026	Option exercise and sale	13,000	Exercised at $26.50, sold at $52.68	~$0.68m proceeds	Option exercise and same-day sale
Kevin S. Boone (EVP & Chief Financial Officer)	03 Jun 2026	Sell	136,708	$46.70 weighted avg	~$6.38m	Not stated on filing summary
John J. Zillmer (Director)	03 Jun 2026	Sell	10,000	$46.45 weighted avg	~$0.46m	Not stated on filing summary

The June and July clustering is consistent with pre-arranged trading plans, but the plan type is not stated in the filing summaries reviewed, so this should not be assumed.

10. Key Risks

• Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger: the Surface Transportation Board lifted its procedural pause on 19 August 2026 and set a schedule running through participant notices on 4 September 2026, Department of Justice and Department of Transportation comments on 3 December 2026, protests on 16 February 2027 and final briefs on 28 May 2027, with a final decision expected in the second quarter of 2027. Approval would create the first true United States transcontinental railroad and leave CSX the smaller eastern operator.
• Coal secular decline: coal revenue fell 15% to $1,900m in FY2025 with revenue per unit down 13%, and remains roughly 13% of the group. The Q2 2026 recovery was driven by export mine restarts and benchmark pricing rather than any structural change in demand.
• Fuel surcharge and fuel lag volatility: Q2 2026 fuel surcharge revenue of $410m was nearly double the prior year, flattering reported revenue growth, while fuel lag was $54m unfavourable in the quarter and $93m unfavourable in the first half. The mechanism reverses when diesel prices fall.
• Freight cycle and trade policy: intermodal and international volumes depend on container flows through eastern ports and on industrial production. Management described FY2025 as a subdued industrial demand environment; a renewed freight recession or tariff-driven volume shift would hit the highest-growth line first.
• Labour and regulatory exposure: roughly 16,900 employees are covered by national rail labour agreements, and the whole Class I sector is under elevated Surface Transportation Board scrutiny through the merger docket, including a November 2025 letter from nine state attorneys general raising competition and national security concerns.
• Weather, derailment and infrastructure risk: the $450m Blue Ridge Subdivision rebuild after Hurricane Helene demonstrates how quickly a single weather event can impose unplanned capital and service costs on a fixed network.
• Activist pressure to pursue a deal: Ancora Holdings publicly pushed the board to find a merger partner, which contributed to the 2025 chief executive change. Warren Buffett explicitly ruled out a Berkshire or BNSF acquisition of CSX, leaving the company without an obvious counterparty if consolidation proceeds around it.

11. Recent Developments

• 22 Jan 2026 — FY2025 results. Q4 revenue of $3,508m down 1%, GAAP EPS of $0.39, full-year revenue of $14,092m and adjusted EPS of $1.61; chief executive Steve Angel described a subdued industrial demand environment.
• 26 Feb 2026 — dividend raised and new buyback authorised. The board increased the quarterly dividend 7.6% to $0.14 per share and authorised a new $5bn share repurchase programme, the largest in company history.
• 22 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 results. Revenue of $3,482m, up 1.7%, with GAAP diluted EPS of $0.43 against $0.34 a year earlier; roughly 6m shares repurchased in the quarter.
• 30 Apr 2026 — Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern refile. The merger parties filed a revised application after the Surface Transportation Board rejected the original December 2025 filing as incomplete.
• 28 May 2026 — STB holds the merger docket in abeyance. The Board paused proceedings and demanded supplemental data from the applicants by 27 July 2026.
• 03 Jun 2026 — CFO share sale. Kevin Boone sold 136,708 shares at a weighted average $46.70; director John Zillmer sold 10,000 shares the same day.
• 22 Jul 2026 — Q2 2026 results. Record revenue of $3,935m up 10%, operating income of $1.51bn up 17%, GAAP diluted EPS of $0.54 up 23%, volume up 6% to 1.676m units, and raised FY2026 guidance.
• 22 Jul 2026 — Canadian National settles with Union Pacific. CN dropped its opposition to the UP–NS merger in exchange for Kansas City access and trackage-rights concessions, leaving CSX, BNSF and CPKC as the remaining Class I opponents.
• 24 Jul 2026 — further insider sales. Chief Accounting Officer Angela Williams sold 30,000 shares at $53.29 and Chief Legal Officer Michael Burns exercised and sold 13,000 shares at $52.68.
• 19 Aug 2026 — STB sets a new merger schedule. The Board lifted the pause and published a procedural calendar pushing the final decision on Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern into the second quarter of 2027.
• 27 Aug 2026 — chemical safety awards. CSX recognised 55 customers for chemical transportation safety performance, its routine annual programme.

12. Key Dates and Catalysts

• 31 Aug 2026 — record date for the $0.14 per share third-quarter dividend.
• 04 Sep 2026 — deadline for participant notices in the Surface Transportation Board's Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger docket, in which CSX is a formal opponent.
• 15 Sep 2026 — payment date for the $0.14 per share third-quarter dividend.
• Expected 15 Oct 2026 — Q3 2026 results, based on CSX's practice of reporting in mid-October; the company had not formally confirmed the date at the time of writing.
• 03 Dec 2026 — Department of Justice and Department of Transportation preliminary comments due in the merger proceeding.
• 16 Feb 2027 — deadline for responses, protests and comments in the merger proceeding.
• 28 May 2027 — final briefs due in the merger proceeding, with the Surface Transportation Board's decision expected in the second quarter of 2027.

Public comment hearings in the merger docket are not expected before the end of the first quarter of 2027, and no CSX investor day has been announced. For scheduled macroeconomic releases that move industrial and transport equities, see the ChartsView Economic Calendar. Reader discussion of this and other companies is on the ChartsView Forum.

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