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CPKC: ‘Exceptional Execution in Challenging Market’

(Courtesy of CPKC)
(Courtesy of CPKC)
In reporting fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Jan. 28, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) President and CEO Keith Creel said, “Despite macroeconomic and trade policy headwinds in 2025, our Precision Scheduled Railroading model again enabled us to control costs and deliver a record core adjusted operating ratio while capitalizing on our unique growth opportunities.”
(Courtesy of CPKC)

“Our fourth-quarter and full-year results demonstrate exceptional execution in a challenging market by controlling what we could control,” Creel also noted.

(Courtesy of CPKC)

Following are among CPKC’s fourth-quarter 2025 results:

  • Revenues came in at $C3.9 billion, up 1% from fourth-quarter 2024.
(Courtesy of CPKC)
  • Reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) decreased to C$1.20 from C$1.28 in the same quarter in 2024, and core adjusted diluted EPS increased 3% to C$1.33 from C$1.29 in 2024.
  • The reported operating ratio (OR) decreased 80 basis points (bps) to 58.9% and core adjusted OR was 55.9%, a 120 bps improvement—both were records, according to CPKC.
(Courtesy of CPKC)

CPKC also reported “record” fourth-quarter operating metrics in train weights, network speed, locomotive productivity, and car miles per car day (see above).

(Courtesy of CPKC)

CPKC’s full-year 2025 highlights include:

  • Revenues were up 4% to C$15.1 billion from C$14.5 billion in 2024.
  • Reported OR decreased 160 bps to 62.8% and core adjusted OR improved to a “CPKC record-low” of 59.9%, a 140 bps improvement year-over-year, CPKC said.
  • Reported diluted EPS increased to C$4.51 from C$3.98 in 2024, while core adjusted diluted EPS rose 8% to C$4.61 from C$4.25 in 2024.
(Courtesy of CPKC)

According to CPKC, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-reportable personal injury frequency decreased to 0.92 from 0.95 in 2024, and FRA-reportable train accident frequency decreased to 0.85 from 1.01 in 2024. The Canadian Class I railroad said that 2025 was the third consecutive year that it “led the industry with the lowest FRA-reportable train accident frequency among Class I railroads, building on Canadian Pacific’s legacy of 17 consecutive years of industry leadership.”

2026 Outlook

(Courtesy of CPKC)

CPKC provided the following full-year 2026 guidance:  

  • “Low double-digit core adjusted diluted EPS growth vs. 2025 core adjusted diluted EPS of C$4.61.
  • “Mid-single digit volume growth, as measured in Revenue Ton Miles.
  • “Capital expenditures of C$2.65 billion, a reduction of approximately 15% from 2025.”

The railroad said it based its guidance on these “key assumptions”: a core adjusted effective tax rate of 24.75% and “other components of net periodic benefit recovery will be C$441 million in 2026.”

“Looking ahead to 2026,” Keith Creel said, “record grain harvests and a pipeline of unique growth opportunities position this company to continue producing differentiated results.”

Visit CPKC’s Investor Relations webpage for more fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 details.

Further Reading:

Also, join Railway Age on March 10, 2026 for our “Next-Gen Freight Rail Conference” at the Union League Club of Chicago. Among the confirmed speakers are Keith Creel, Jim Vena (UP), Mark George (NS), Tracy Robinson (CN), Tom G. Williams (BNSF), and Patrick Fuchs and Michelle Schultz (STB).