Severe weather patterns in British Columbia early this month are expected to bite into Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CPR) 2007 earnings per share, the company warned Wednesday.
The railway earlier this year announced an expected range of $4.30 to $4.45 for adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS), noting it had delivered “solid growth” of 12 per cent in those earnings in the first nine months of 2007.
However, the recent “harsh weather conditions” in B.C., combined with higher-than-anticipated prices for West Texas Intermediate and a 30-day lag between its fuel expenses and fuel recovery, may put EPS “below the bottom end of our guidance of $4.30 for the full year 2007,” said chief financial officer Mike Lambert in a release.
(Prices for West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, form part of the formulae by which CPR and CN calculate their fuel surcharges.)
CPR CEO Fred Green said the company remains confident it can meet its 2008 EPS target of $4.70 to $4.85.
