Zacks Research Analysts Decrease Earnings Estimates for CNI

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) – Analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q2 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Canadian National Railway in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 13th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the transportation company will post earnings of $1.38 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $1.40. The consensus estimate for Canadian National Railway’s current full-year earnings is $5.76 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Canadian National Railway’s Q3 2026 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.57 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $5.71 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.60 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.54 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $1.55 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $1.66 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $6.35 EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at $1.65 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $6.84 EPS.

Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) (TSE:CNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The transportation company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.31. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. Canadian National Railway had a return on equity of 21.90% and a net margin of 27.22%.The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.85 earnings per share.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CNI. Evercore dropped their price target on Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Canadian National Railway from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $113.88 to $117.36 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Canadian National Railway in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.04.

Canadian National Railway Price Performance

NYSE CNI opened at $112.46 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $107.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.28. Canadian National Railway has a twelve month low of $90.74 and a twelve month high of $115.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Canadian National Railway Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.915 per share. This represents a $3.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 9th. Canadian National Railway’s payout ratio is presently 48.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Canadian National Railway

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Canadian National Railway by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,646,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,437,679,000 after acquiring an additional 346,670 shares during the period. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Canadian National Railway by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,745,744 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,557,309,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210,403 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,201,675 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,338,948,000 after purchasing an additional 42,907 shares during the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 13,894,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,310,600,000 after purchasing an additional 157,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Canadian National Railway by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 8,998,101 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $889,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,106 shares in the last quarter. 80.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Canadian National Railway News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Canadian National Railway this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Canadian National Railway will have Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer Janet Drysdale speak at the Wolfe Research Global Transportation & Industrials Conference on May 21, which may help keep investor focus on the company’s strategy and outlook. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its FY2026 EPS estimate to $5.71 from $5.67, suggesting slightly better expectations for the current fiscal year, though the new figure still sits just below the consensus estimate of $5.76.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research lowered multiple near-term profit forecasts for Canadian National Railway, including Q2 2026 EPS to $1.38 from $1.40, Q3 2026 to $1.45 from $1.43, and Q4 2026 to $1.57 from $1.54, indicating softer expected operating performance.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also cut FY2027 EPS to $6.35 from $6.51, FY2028 EPS to $6.84 from $6.91, and reduced several 2027 quarterly estimates, which could weigh on sentiment around longer-term earnings growth for CNI.

Canadian National Railway Company Profile

Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI) is a Class I freight railway that operates an integrated rail network across Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, CN provides long-haul freight transportation and related logistics services that connect major ports, industrial centers and inland markets throughout North America. Its transcontinental system enables cross-border movement of goods and supports supply chains that span coast-to-coast in Canada and into the central and eastern United States.

CN’s core business is the railborne transportation of a broad mix of commodities, including intermodal container traffic, forest and paper products, grain and other agricultural products, metallurgical and industrial products, petroleum and chemical products, coal and automotive shipments.