Is the business good?
How good a business is NSC?
Norfolk Southern earns 10% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
10%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 1.0 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 32%
Operating margin · Railroads median 33% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.62×
Cash conversion · 0.60× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- −0.09%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 31% |
| FY2021 | 40% |
| FY2022 | 38% |
| FY2023 | 23% |
| FY2024 | 34% |
| FY2025 | 36% |
Details›
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 32%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 21%
- Free cash flow margin
- 13%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $12.5B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $1.63B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $2.64B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 10%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.