American Commercial Lines shares soar on 4Q profit

(AP) — Shares of American Commercial Lines Inc. surged 26 percent Tuesday after the inland barge operator reported a fourth-quarter profit that fell year-over-year but still soared past Wall Street's expectations.

Lower towing revenue and grain shipping rates, changes in the mix of commodity shipments, and fuel prices drove quarterly revenue down 16 percent to $226.9 million. "Our earnings power was greatly impacted this year as our clients shipped less to their customers, and to their own production facilities," said President and CEO Michael P. Ryan.

But the company offset the drop in revenue by dramatically cutting costs. Cost of sales fell to $180.5 million from $209.7 million and American Commercial also trimmed its selling, general and administrative expenses.

The company, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., earned $9.3 million, or 72 cents per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $23.7 million, or $1.87 per share. The latest period was dragged down by a loss of 37 cents per share on the sale of the company's Summit Contracting business.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items from their estimates, were expecting a profit of just 6 cents per share on sales of $222.5 million.

The better-than-expected results sent shares jumping $4.24 to $20.40 in afternoon trading on heavy volume. The stock has ranged between a low of $3.92 last March to a peak of $30.50 in September over the past 52 weeks.

For all of 2009, the company reported a loss of $12.1 million, or 95 cents per share, compared with a profit of $48 million, or $3.78 per share in 2008. Revenue fell 27 percent to $846 million from $1.16 billion in 2008 due to weaker transportation revenue and building fewer barges for sale.