OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific got a $6 billion profit boost in the fourth quarter profit thanks to a sweeping change in U.S. tax laws, but a more modest 5 percent growth in profit when that one-time benefit is stripped away.
The Omaha, Nebraska, railroad on Thursday reported a profit of $7.28 billion, or $9.25 per share. Without the tax changes, Union Pacific estimated it made $1.2 billion, or $1.53 per share.
The results were just below the $1.54 per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.
Union Pacific said its revenue grew 5 percent to $5.45 billion in the quarter even though it only hauled 1 percent more freight. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.41 billion revenue.
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said he expects more volume growth in 2018 that will help the railroad deliver better results.
"We are optimistic the economy will favor a number of our market segments leading to another year of positive volume growth," Fritz said.
For all of 2017, Union Pacific reported $10.7 billion net income, or $13.36 per share. Without the largely paper benefit of the tax cuts, Union Pacific reported $4.6 billion net income, or $5.79 per share.
The railroad operates 32,400 miles of track in 23 states.
Shares of Union Pacific Corp. have increased slightly more than 5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 6 percent. The stock has risen 30 percent in the last 12 months.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UNP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UNP