Stocks · Industrials · Railroads
Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC
$317.44 +2.31% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $71.30B
Low risk
Next earnings report: Oct 22, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 4 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +8.1%).
- The shares trade at 27.1× trailing earnings, higher than 81% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $11.72, down 20.8% year over year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth37Weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 29%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 27%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 16%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 23%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 40%
Quality70Positive
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 41%
- Gross marginTop 9%
- Operating marginTop 2%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 45%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 35%
- Interest coverTop 44%
Value44Weak
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 34%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 28%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 48%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 11%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 27%
Momentum66Positive
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 48%
- 6-month returnTop 41%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 50%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 17%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 27%
Revisions41Weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 41%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 28%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 28%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 24%
Stability90Exceptional
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 7%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 35%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 0.6% | 3.0% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -18.9% | -20.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 36.1% | 53.7% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 36.1% | 31.6% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 16.6% | 30.6% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 3.0% | 0.6% | ↑ | Bottom 29% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -20.8% | -18.9% | ↓ | Bottom 27% |
| Gross margin | 53.7% | 36.1% | ↑ | Top 9% |
| Operating margin | 31.6% | 36.1% | ↓ | Top 2% |
| Net margin | 21.0% | 27.5% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 30.6% | 16.6% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 7.3% | — | Top 41% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -1.5% | — | Bottom 23% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.42×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -2.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +1.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.87×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 5.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.70%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.12%
- Shareholder yield
- 1.82%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 4
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +8.1%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $361.86
- Target vs current price
- +14.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 48
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 44%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | +6.0% | +5.3% | +1.5% | +4.5% | — |
| Apr 24, 2026 | +6.4% | -0.5% | -1.7% | -3.1% | +3.1% |
| Jan 29, 2026 | +16.7% | +2.0% | +7.9% | +10.0% | +12.4% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | +3.4% | -1.7% | -3.2% | -2.4% | -2.9% |
| Jul 29, 2025 | -0.6% | -3.0% | -2.9% | -3.2% | +1.2% |
| Apr 23, 2025 | +1.1% | +0.9% | +1.5% | +10.9% | +25.8% |
| Jan 29, 2025 | +3.4% | +1.8% | +0.2% | -4.1% | -10.2% |
| Oct 22, 2024 | +4.5% | +4.9% | +2.2% | +5.7% | -1.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | $3.52 | $3.32 | +6.0% | $3.50B |
| Apr 24, 2026 | $2.65 | $2.49 | +6.4% | $3.00B |
| Jan 29, 2026 | $3.22 | $2.76 | +16.7% | $2.97B |
| Oct 23, 2025 | $3.30 | $3.19 | +3.4% | $3.10B |
| Jul 29, 2025 | $3.29 | $3.31 | -0.6% | $3.11B |
| Apr 23, 2025 | $2.69 | $2.66 | +1.1% | $2.99B |
| Jan 29, 2025 | $3.04 | $2.94 | +3.4% | $3.02B |
| Oct 22, 2024 | $3.25 | $3.11 | +4.5% | $3.05B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 27.1× | 21.9× | 81th | Top 34% |
| P/E (forward) | 24.5× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.0× | — | — | Top 48% |
| EV / Sales | 6.93× | — | — | Bottom 11% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 5.38% | — | — | Top 28% |
| Earnings yield | 3.69% | — | — | Top 34% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 15.2× – 38.0× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +6.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -20.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +58.5%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 1
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -4.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +1.9%
- RSI (14)
- 45.4
- Relative volume
- 1.06×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 20.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 27th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.71
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.50
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -10.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -25.5%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 31, 2021 | Oct 27, 2023 | -38.0% | 458 days | 480 days (Sep 29, 2025) |
| May 10, 2021 | Sep 21, 2021 | -17.6% | 93 days | 27 days (Oct 28, 2021) |
| Mar 4, 2026 | Mar 19, 2026 | -12.5% | 11 days | 24 days (Apr 23, 2026) |
| Aug 24, 2026 | Sep 30, 2026 | -12.5% | 26 days | Not yet recovered |
| Sep 28, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -10.4% | 22 days | 4 days (Nov 3, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $71.30B
- P/E (TTM)
- 27.1
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $11.72
- Revenue (TTM)
- $12.54B
- Dividend yield
- 1.70%
- 52-week range
- $277.80 – $358.60
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $11.14B | $12.74B | $12.16B | $12.12B | $12.18B |
| Gross profit | $4.37B | $4.73B | $2.81B | $3.76B | $5.17B |
| Operating income | $4.37B | $4.73B | $2.81B | $3.76B | $4.01B |
| Net income | $3.00B | $3.27B | $1.83B | $2.62B | $2.87B |
| EPS (diluted) | $12.11 | $13.88 | $8.02 | $11.57 | $12.75 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.05B | $3.02B | $2.99B | $3.11B | $3.10B | $2.97B | $3.00B | $3.46B |
| Net income | $1.10B | $733.0M | $750.0M | $768.0M | $711.0M | $644.0M | $547.0M | $734.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $4.85 | $3.23 | $3.31 | $3.41 | $3.16 | $2.87 | $2.43 | $3.26 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $4.25B | $4.22B | $3.18B | $4.05B | $4.36B |
| Capital expenditure | -$1.47B | -$1.95B | -$2.35B | -$2.38B | -$2.20B |
| Free cash flow | $2.79B | $2.27B | $830.0M | $1.67B | $2.16B |
| Dividends paid | -$1.03B | -$1.17B | -$1.23B | -$1.22B | -$1.22B |
| Net share buybacks | -$3.37B | -$3.11B | -$619.0M | $26.0M | -$534.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.07B
- Total assets
- $45.12B
- Total liabilities
- $28.87B
- Total debt
- $16.62B
- Net debt
- $15.55B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $16.25B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 7, 2026 | $1.35 | Aug 20, 2026 |
| May 8, 2026 | $1.35 | May 20, 2026 |
| Feb 6, 2026 | $1.35 | Feb 20, 2026 |
| Nov 7, 2025 | $1.35 | Nov 20, 2025 |
| Aug 1, 2025 | $1.35 | Aug 20, 2025 |
| May 2, 2025 | $1.35 | May 20, 2025 |
| Feb 7, 2025 | $1.35 | Feb 20, 2025 |
| Nov 1, 2024 | $1.35 | Nov 20, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 7,619,508
- Days to cover
- 6.16
- Change vs previous report
- +32.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Oct 10, 1997
- 3-for-1
- Apr 7, 1987
- 3-for-1
- Oct 27, 1976
- 3-for-1