Western Railroad Discussion > Kansas City Southern reports positive earnings

Operating ratio 64
Earnings and volume up
Serious concerns about NAFTA impacts

Webcast should be wrapping up, so interested persons can hear it on the replay


http://investors.kcsouthern.com/financial-information/quarterly-results?sc_lang=en

Actually, KCS said it did not have serious concerns either in the short-term or the long-term about NAFTA impacts. In fact, they continue to see strong foreign investment in Mexico despite the lingering trade uncertainty.

MP403 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually, KCS said it did not have serious
> concerns either in the short-term or the long-term
> about NAFTA impacts. In fact, they continue to see
> strong foreign investment in Mexico despite the
> lingering trade uncertainty.

Yes, you are correct.  That's the danger of  my listening to calls in the background.  I took a look at the transcript from Seeking Alpha.

KCS said they are confident that the improvements in Mexico will continue to benefit the company.  That port traffic growth at Lazaro Cardenas will help them, and they'd like to implement customs clearance protocols already used at the US-Canada border to the US-Mexico border.  That  was part of clearing trains farther inland, not on a bridge over a river.

KCS investment will continue, and they feel the new Mexican government's emphasis on security and rooting out corruption will benefit the company.  It was pretty clear that while they hear the anti-NAFTA ("Naptha" in the transcript) rhetoric, they aren't planning any change in their successful growth strategy.  FWIW, I didn't realize Ford had cancelled its plans for a new Mexican small car plant, and moved the work to China.  That was mentioned in one of the answers. 

Here's the text of the presentation for anyone who likes to read this stuff:  https://seekingalpha.com/article/4188846-kansas-city-southern-ksu-ceo-patrick-ottensmeyer-q2-2018-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single