Union Pacific Corp Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (UNP)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A+ . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and good cash flow from operations. Although the company may harbor some minor weaknesses, we feel they are unlikely to have a significant impact on results.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• UNION PACIFIC CORP has improved earnings per share by 32.1% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, UNION PACIFIC CORP increased its bottom line by earning $6.72 versus $5.53 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($8.20 versus $6.72).
• The company, on the basis of net income growth from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly outperformed against the S&P 500 and exceeded that of the Road & Rail industry average. The net income increased by 27.6% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $785.00 million to $1,002.00 million.
• Despite its growing revenue, the company underperformed as compared with the industry average of 9.2%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 7.5%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.49, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels.
• Net operating cash flow has slightly increased to $1,372.00 million or 1.93% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, UNION PACIFIC CORP has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of -2.03%.

Union Pacific Corporation, through its subsidiary, Union Pacific Railroad Company, provides rail transportation services in North America. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.2, below the average transportation industry P/E ratio of 15.5and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Union Pacific has a market cap of $56.96 billion and is part of the services sector and transportation industry. Shares are up 10.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

You can view the full Union Pacific Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Union Pacific Corp click any of the following:

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