KCS 1Q earnings and revenue rise

Kansas City Southern Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $63 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, compared with $33 million, or 34 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2010. Revenue of $489 million was up 12% compared with the corresponding 2010 period, based in part on carload volumes that were 7% higher than in the first quarter of 2010.

KCS said its record first-quarter operating ratio of 73.8% compared favorably with the 75.2% operating ratio reported for the corresponding 2010 period.

“KCS’s first-quarter results came in on track with our internal expectations and consistent with the volume and revenue guidance we provided for full year 2011,” said David L. Starling, president and chief executive officer. “In addition, our first-quarter operating ratio improvement of 1.4 points is in line with the 1-to-1.5 point improvement guidance we gave for 2011; this despite higher fuel expense that we were unable to fully recover during the first quarter that cost approximately one point on the operating ratio.”

Automotive traffic provided a 43% increase in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Intermodal revenue also gained, up 27% over the same time period. KCS agriculture and minerals traffic posted declines, which KCS attributed to a decline in cross-border traffic into Mexico as availability of crops from a strong Mexican harvest has been sufficient to meet the local demand.

Shares of Kansas City Southern were up in midday trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.