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Union Pacific Q3 Earnings & Revenues Surpass Estimates, Rise Y/Y

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Key Takeaways

  • UNP's Q3 EPS rose 12% year over year to $3.08, topping estimates of $2.99.
  • Revenue grew 2.5% to $6.2B, driven by core pricing gains and stronger Bulk and Industrial units.
  • Adjusted operating ratio improved 180 bps to 58.5%, reflecting better cost control.

Union Pacific Corporation’s (UNP - Free Report) third-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 7 cents from non-recurring items) of $3.08 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.99. The bottom line improved 12% on a year-over-year basis due to strong operational efficiency.

Operating revenues of $6.2 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.2% and improved 2.5% on a year-over-year basis, owing to solid core pricing gains.

Union Pacific Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Union Pacific Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Union Pacific Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Union Pacific Corporation Quote

Freight revenues, accounting for 95% of the top line, improved 3% to $5.93 billion. The actual figure beat our estimate of $5.87 billion. Other revenues decreased 2% to $317 million in the third quarter of 2025. Business volumes, measured by total revenue carloads, remained flat on a year-over-year basis. The operating income was up 6% year over year at $2.55 billion.

Total operating expenses of $3.7 billion inched up 1% year over year. Fuel expenses increased 1%. Expenses on purchased services and materials were up 6% on a year-over-year basis, expenses on compensation and benefits decreased 1% and other cost items declined 1% year over year.

The operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) in the third quarter of 2025, on an adjusted basis, improved 180 basis points year over year to 58.5%.

UNP’s Segmental Highlights

Bulk (Grain & grain products, Fertilizer, Food & refrigerated, Coal & renewables) freight revenues were $1.93 billion, which increased 7% on a year-over-year basis. We projected the metric to increase 3.8% from the year-ago levels. Segmental revenue carloads increased 7% year over year.

Industrial freight revenues came in at $2.19 billion, up 3% year over year. We projected the metric to increase 4.1% from the year-ago levels. Segmental revenue carloads increased 3% to $574 million year over year.

Freight revenues in the Premium division were $1.8 billion, down 2% year over year. We expected the metric to decrease 3% compared with the year-ago reported figure. Premium revenue carloads decreased 5% year over year.

UNP’s Liquidity

Union Pacific exited the third quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $808 million compared with $1 billion at 2024 end. Debt (due after a year) increased to $30.29 billion in the September-end quarter from $29.77 billion at 2024’s end.

Currently, Union Pacific carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Q3 Performance of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 46 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.71 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.52. Earnings increased 14% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.

Revenues in the September-end quarter were $16.67 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.79 billion and increasing 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Due to improving air-travel demand, adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 4.1% year over year to $15.2 billion. 

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.76 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 and improved 18.1% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $3.05 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.02 billion and were down 0.5% year over year. JBHT’s third-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 1% and 4% decline in gross revenue per load in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively; a decrease in load volume of 8% and 1% in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and Dedicated Contract Services (DCS); and 8% fewer stops in Final Mile Services (FMS). These items were partially offset by a 3 % improvement in DCS productivity, a 9% increase in revenue per load in ICS and 14% load growth in JBT. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, fell less than 1% year over year.

United Airlines  (UAL - Free Report) reported mixed third-quarter 2025 results wherein the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but revenues missed the same.

UAL's third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (excluding 12 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.78 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.64 but declined 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies above the guided range of $2.25 and $2.75.

Operating revenues of $15.2 billion fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.3 billion but increased 2.6% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.7% of the top line) increased 1.9% year over year to $13.8 billion. UAL flights transported 48,382 passengers in the third quarter, up 6.2% year over year.

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