Reuters: Global Markets: FreightCar America deliveries rise; shares up

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FreightCar America deliveries rise; shares up May 8th 2012, 11:43 Tue May 8, 2012 7:43am EDT (Reuters) - FreightCar America Inc's (RAIL.O) quarterly profit handily beat market expectations as railcar deliveries to North America tripled, sending its shares up 16 percent before the bell. Demand for new railcars had spiked in 2011 almost entirely due to strong demand from the energy sector, prompting railcar manufacturers to ramp up production and successfully increase prices. Railcar deliveries in the quarter jumped to 2,613 units. However, orders fell more than 200 percent to 1,244 units. Exploration and production activities in the United States have come under pressure from low natural gas prices. Rival Greenbrier Cos Inc (GBX.N) warned of slowing railcar deliveries in 2012. "We expect coal demand to remain under pressure in the near term," FreightCar CEO Ed Whalen said in a statement. The company, which makes, repairs, sells and leases freight cars used for hauling coal, metals and other bulk commodities, reported net income attributable to FreightCar of $9.7 million, or 81 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.3 million, or 11 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts had expected earnings of 39 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue jumped more than three-fold to $219.1 million, easily beating analysts' estimate of $170.6 million. The company's shares, which have lost nearly a third of their value since touching a year high in February, were up at $24.10 in premarket trade. They closed at $20.76 on Monday on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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