CSX Q3 2026 Earnings: EPS of $0.57, a Record 39.1% Margin and a Higher Revenue Forecast

CSX reported third-quarter 2026 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57 after the close on Wednesday, October 21, against analyst estimates of $0.52 to $0.53. Revenue rose 12% to a record $4.017 billion, ahead of the $3.94 billion to $3.96 billion analysts expected. The railroad also raised its 2026 revenue growth forecast to the high single digits, from mid to high single digits.

CSX stock closed the regular session at $48.40. The results reached the MoveSurge news feed at 16:03:37 ET with the stock at $48.29. One minute later it traded at $49.55, up 2.61%, and ten minutes later at $50.67, up 4.93%. The chart on this page ends at 16:18 ET, when the stock was at $50.55, 4.68% above the level at the headline.

The $0.44 in the release is last year's number

CSX made no adjustments to this quarter's results, so reported and adjusted EPS were both $0.57. The $0.44 printed in the release is adjusted EPS for the third quarter of 2025, which left out a $164 million non-cash goodwill impairment at the Quality Carriers trucking unit. Reported EPS for that quarter was $0.37. A reader who compares $0.44 with this year's estimates sees a miss that did not happen.

Fuel surcharges account for about half of the revenue growth

Revenue rose $430 million from a year earlier. Fuel surcharge revenue, which passes the cost of diesel on to shippers, rose to $466 million from $234 million, so that $232 million increase makes up about 54% of the growth. Diesel cost CSX $4.24 a gallon in the quarter, against $2.54 a year earlier, and its fuel expense rose $170 million. Revenue that mostly covers a matching cost lowers the margin percentage even when it adds dollars of profit. Finance chief Kevin Boone said fuel prices took 70 basis points off the margin; a basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

The operating margin still reached a record 39.1%. That is 4.2 percentage points above the adjusted 34.9% of a year earlier, and 8.8 points above the 30.3% CSX reported then, when the goodwill charge weighed on the result. Savings of $42 million on purchased services and $50 million from a smaller workforce offset part of a $53 million rise in incentive pay.

Where the volume came from

Intermodal, which moves shipping containers and truck trailers by rail, carried a record 820,000 units, up 7%, and its revenue rose 20% to $634 million. That was still below the $659 million Zacks consensus for the business. Merchandise volume rose 3% to 679,000 units and revenue rose 11% to $2,453 million, in line with forecasts. Coal volume rose 2% and revenue rose 10% to $537 million, slightly above the $532 million expected.

What CSX expects for the rest of 2026

Chief executive Steve Angel said on the call that CSX now expects revenue growth "in the high single digits." The other targets did not change: operating margin expansion of more than 350 basis points for the year, capital spending below $2.4 billion and free cash flow growth above 80%. Boone said CSX expects margin improvement above 350 basis points in the fourth quarter as well. Free cash flow for the first nine months was $2,648 million, against $1,066 million a year earlier.

CSX bought back 11 million shares for $543 million in the third quarter, almost twice the $284 million it spent in the second. Angel said service "started strong in October," with average train speed above 19 miles per hour.

How the stock reacted to the last report

When CSX reported second-quarter EPS of $0.54 on July 22, the stock rose 2.77% in the first minute after the headline reached the MoveSurge news feed, from $50.17, and was 1.75% higher after fifteen minutes. This time the first-minute gain was similar and the stock kept rising for ten minutes. Investing.com reported an after-hours gain of 4.03% to $50.35 on Wednesday evening.