As soon as the STB issued its decision granting Kansas City Southern a waiver from prevailing merger rules established about 20 years ago, KCS following the terms of its existing merger agreement with Canadian Pacific said it would now consider CN’s counter-offer.
KCS reported April 24 that its Board of Directors has determined that the unsolicited merger proposal it received from CN on April 20 might end up “superior” to the KCS-Canadian Pacific (CP) merger agreement announced March 21. KCS now intends to engage in discussions with CN. Both CP and CN have responded, each with language used before, reiterating points that have been expressed several times within the past week.
CP: ‘Bullish’ on 2021
CP: ‘Bullish’ on 2021 Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
CP’s operating ratio, which included a $33 million expense related to the Kansas City Southern (KCS) acquisition, came in at 60.2% for the first three months of 2021. This is a 100 basis-point increase from 59.2% in the prior-year period. Adjusted, the first-quarter 2021 OR improved 70 basis points to 58.5%.
“The strong demand environment, particularly across bulk, merchandise and domestic intermodal, coupled with our commitment to the foundations of Precision Scheduled Railroading enabled our success in the first quarter,” Canadian Pacific (CP) President and CEO Keith Creel reported during the merger-bound railroad’s earnings announcement.
Cowen Surveys Find ‘Encouraging’ Shipper Business Outlook
Cowen and Company Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl
Two first-quarter 2021 surveys of rail shippers on pricing and business outlook as well as equipment needs conducted by Cowen and Company analysts Jason Seidl (Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor), Matt Elkott and Elliot Alper indicate that, compared with the previous quarter, Class I railroad customers are anticipating somewhat higher rate increases, and a slight decline in new railcar demand.
1Q2021 Rail Equipment Survey
Order expectations by the shipper sub-group of railcar buyers declined slightly, according to Cowen Transportation OEM Analyst and Vice President Equity Research Matt Elkott. “This is true for total shippers and same shippers surveyed,” he noted. Some of the other metrics improved sequentially. “Into the 1Q print, we believe WAB [Wabtec] and GATX are well-positioned for
The Hydrogen Council’s aim is to accelerate the adoption of clean energy.
Part of the conversation were Cowen analysts Jeffrey Osborne (Managing Director, Energy-Sustainability & Mobility Technology), Matt Elkott (OEM Transportation Analyst), Marc Bianchi, Thomas Boyes, Emily Riccio, Carson Sippel, Jonathan Hunter, James Schumm and Elliot Alper.
Osborne and Elkott share what they learned below.
Jeffrey Osborne, Managing Director, Energy-Sustainability & Mobility Technology, Cowen and Company
A Fuel Cell and Battery Story
Hydrogen and battery technologies will “progress in parallel but serve different needs” in transport applications, is among Osborne’s takeaways from Wilson, who is the former CEO of Hydrogenics, a Ontario, Canada-based fuel cell and electrolyzer company that was effectively acquired in 2019 by Cummins as part of the company’s New Power division.
January 22, 2021
Fuel Cells and Batteries: The Future of Mobility? Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
In third-quarter 2020, Wabtec received an order for transit hybrid locomotives for New York City and a first zero-to-zero order for a Class I railroad, according to Cowen s Elkott.
As part of Cowen and Company’s “Energy Transition Series,” analysts spoke with The Hydrogen Council Executive Director Daryl Wilson to explore the adoption of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies from stationary to mobility applications. Also addressed were use-cases relating to complementary battery technology and costs of hydrogen as a fuel source. Cowen analysts discussed, too, how Cummins and Wabtec are operating in this market.