CN revises full-year outlook to include strike's impact

CN announced today that its strike-recovery plan is on track and that the company is revising its 2019 full-year financial guidance to include the impact of the eight-day strike.

"Our discipline on our recovery plan is delivering results,” said JJ Ruest, president and chief executive officer of CN, in a press release. "While we expect to take some time and we remain dependent on favorable weather, we are pleased by how things are progressing."

CN estimated the strike's impact at 15 cents of earnings per share (EPS). The revised full-year financial outlook now calls for adjusted diluted EPS growth in the low-to-mid single-digit range versus last year's adjusted EPS of CA$5.50.

On Oct. 22, CN's guidance had called for adjusted diluted EPS growth in the high single-digit range for the year.

CN remains focused on continuing to realign resources in light of weaker demand, including its workforce, to address cost takeout efforts that began before the strike, company officials said.

Last week, CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference announced they had reached a tentative contract agreement, ending the strike involving more than 3,000 conductors and rail-yard workers.