On January 19th, investors will get additional insight into the U.S. economy when Union Pacific (UNP) reports Q4 earnings. Despite European headwinds, the company is likely to put up strong numbers given industry wide carload growth last quarter.

Unlike 2010, when storms wreaked havoc, a lack of December storms helped operators post strong year-over-year carload growth. In the most recently reported week ending December 24th, U.S. carloads gained 11.9% from the comparable week in 2010. Intermodal, which led carload growth thanks to exports and cost cutting trends, increased 22.9%.

This brought year-to-date U.S. carloads 2.2% higher than 2010, with intermodal up 5.4%. While this isn’t breakneck growth; combined with solid pricing and more efficient locomotives, it supports profits for Union Pacific.

Across commodity baskets with more than 500,000 industry wide carloads in 2011, the biggest growth has come from metals and products, up 11.9% and motor vehicles and equipment, up

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Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/317222-at-union-pacific-trends-offer-a-peek-into-q4-earnings?source=feed

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