John Koraleski
Analyst · Deutsche Bank
Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon. So let's lead off with a look at how customers view the service and the value they're getting from the Union Pacific as measured by our customer satisfaction, and I'm pleased to say that the news is good. For the quarter, customer satisfaction came in at 91, topping the previous quarterly best of 90. And along the way, we hit 92 in February, setting a new best-ever monthly mark. The strength of our value proposition, great service and continued slow improvement in the economy drove our first quarter volume up 5%, with gains in all six of our businesses. First quarter is often marked by challenging weather, and as Jim pointed out, this year was no exception. You can see from the chart on the upper right the impact on our seven-day carloadings resulting from the large storm that swept across the plains in the Midwest in early February, ultimately dumping two feet of snow on Chicago before heading east. The chart also highlights the resiliency of our network, as volume quickly rebounded. Core price improved 4.5%, with each of the groups posting gains, with the pluses and the minuses of mix offsetting in total those price gains combined with increased fuel surcharge revenue to produce an 8% increase in average revenue per car. The stronger volume and improved revenue per car drove freight revenue up 13% to $4.2 billion, a new first quarter best. So now let's take a closer look at each one of our six businesses. We'll start with Ag products, where volumes grew 4%, which combined with a 6% improvement in average revenue per car to produce revenue growth of 11%. Global demand for whole grains accounted for most of the volume growth, with a 69% increase in export wheat leading the way. Export demand drove a 36% increase in frozen meat and poultry shipment. Now the meat exports were up due to various local issues that reduced supply in Australia, Korea and Brazil, while the poultry gains were a function of a shift to export markets that favored rail. Import beer volumes increased 10%, with a boost from some new business. Ethanol volumes grew 4%, and soybean meal stayed flat as new domestic business offset a decline from last year's strong export demand that resulted from the South American crop failures. Turning to Automotive. Our Automotive revenue grew 12% as contract price increases drove an 8% improvement in average revenue per car and volume grew 4%. Volume growth was hampered by the February storms that restricted shipments and closed auto plants. Although vehicle sales were stronger than expected throughout the remainder of the quarter, equipment shortages were seen across the national rail network as industry car cycles slowed due to the lingering impact of the severe winter weather. To improve fluidity in car supply for our customers, early in February, we started pulling the entire Automotive fleet out of storage, and by March 1, we had that process pretty well complete. In addition, we began a series of special moves to reposition empties for loading, and we also launched a couple of multimodal routes to bypass congestion and help accelerate vehicles to market. Increased vehicle production and anticipation of stronger sales in 2011 is driving the growth in both the vehicle and parts shipments. Our finished vehicle volume grew 5%, with the strongest increases coming from the Detroit Three. Our parts shipments increased 4% with growth in tier suppliers and the Detroit Three offsetting the continued negative impact of the closing of the NUMMI plant in April of last year. Our Chemicals revenue grew 13% as volume climbed 10%, and average revenue per car was up 3%. As I mentioned earlier, mix changes across the group netted out overall, but our Chemical business did see a couple of points of negative mix, driven in part by an early start to the short-haul Foxrock business and growth in movements of plastics to storage and transit yards. Growth in petroleum products, which increased 34%, was largely driven by increased crude oil shipments, with asphalt and refined petroleum products also posting gain. Strong seasonal demand boosted fertilizer volume 16%, with a 29% increase in export potash leading the way. But this quarter, export potash represented less of the overall market than we've seen in previous quarters. Plastic shipments increased 9%, with growth in both domestic and export markets, and improved industrial production drove industrial chemical volume up 6%. In Energy, a volume increase of 4% combined with an 8% improvement in average revenue per car resulting in revenue growth of 13%. Southern Powder River Basin tonnage was up 5%, driven largely by the three new Wisconsin utilities and the carryover impact of the new San Antonio unit that also came online during the second quarter of last year. Colorado, Utah tonnage declined 5% as export demand was more than offset by weakened demand in the Eastern market. Additionally, a longwall move in one of the mines will continue to reduce volumes until the third quarter. Now we don't always highlight our other coal origins, but 4,300 carloads or 65% growth out of Southern Illinois, the river ports utilities and industrial customers was worth highlighting for the quarter. Industrial Products volume grew 9%, which combined with a 6% improvement in average revenue per car to drive a 15% increase in revenue. Nonmetallic mineral shipments increased 36% as strong drilling activity continues to drive demand for frac sand, barite and bentonite. Production of pipe for drilling as well as steel coils and bars for the strengthening auto industry reflected in the 15% increase in steel and scrap. And although the packaging paper market is showing only a slight increase so far this year, our paperboard volume was up 21%, with the growth coming from inventory replenishment and highway conversion. Our Intermodal revenue grew 15%. That's an 11% improvement in average revenue per unit combined with the volume growth of 4%. International Intermodal volume increased 6%, reflecting improved consumer demand and overcoming the timing impact of the Chinese New Year, which this year fell entirely in the first quarter, while in 2010, the holiday slowdown was spread between the first two quarters. Truck-comp service continues to support highway conversions in our Domestic Intermodal world, which was up 1% compared to a strong 2010. Our Streamline subsidiary's door-to-door product grew 17%, with nearly all of that growth coming off the highway. So let me wrap up with a look at what's ahead for the rest of 2011. Although Global Insight's forecast has softened a bit, it's still a solid growth outlook and improved projections for industrial production and unemployment are actually encouraging signs for us. This is kind of an overview of what we see happening in each of our six groups. We'll start with Automotive, which is the only group where we're experiencing significant impact from the recent disaster in Japan. There's still a lot of uncertainty as to the full impact on the auto industry, but our current take is that the second quarter is going to bear the brunt of the disruption, with overall upside potential in the second half as managers work hard to fill the market void. While we anticipate that this will slow growth in our Automotive segment in the second quarter, we still expect strong growth in the second half as the industry recovery continues and sales ramp up. In Industrial Products, the market have been -- the markets that have been the strongest during the first quarter, especially those that are tied to energy demand and the recovering auto industry, should stay strong as the year progresses. Unfortunately, housing and construction continue to lag, but we're cautiously optimistic given the recent report of stronger-than-expected housing starts in March. While one month doesn't make a trend, we're hoping to see at least the start of the recovery in housing and construction as we move towards the end of the year. Chemicals is off to a good start for the year, and most of the strength should continue, driven by energy demand and a stronger economy, although we do expect to see fertilizer shipments slow a bit, following kind of a more normal seasonal pattern. Strengthening industrial production, along with growing export demand, should be good news for our coal franchise, especially with the SPRB stockpiles recently estimated to be slightly below normal. We'll also continue to see benefit from those Wisconsin utility. The biggest gains in Ag are expected to be in whole grain exports, as demand for U.S. wheat remains strong, and feed grains have solid potential against a relatively low second quarter comp. And last but not least, import volumes that drive our International Intermodal business should grow as consumer demand improves as predicted, and our excellent service should continue to support highway conversions and Domestic Intermodal. On balance, with the first quarter behind us, most of the markets are shaping up as we pretty much expected. The diversity of our business mix continues to serve us well. And with our relative fuel efficiency, higher fuel prices should further strengthen our competitive advantage as long as they don't tank the economy. Across all six groups, a strong value proposition remains the foundation of our business development efforts, positioning us to deliver both the economy plus volume gains and improved pricing that we discussed last November to drive overall revenue growth. With that, I'll turn it over to Lance.