Sector Snap: Railroad Shares Fall

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of freight railroad companies fell Monday as the broader market stumbled and a Goldman Sachs analyst lowered earnings estimates of railroads due to a slump in shipment volumes.

Analyst David Feinberg said the industry showed signs of stabilizing but that the decline in shipping volumes will be the worst on record. He predicted 2009 volume will sink 13.3 percent instead of an earlier forecast of a 10.8 percent decline.

Feinberg downgraded Union Pacific Corp., the nation's largest freight railroad operator, to "Neutral" from "Buy," and replaced it on Goldman's buy-list with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. He said Burlington's BNSF Railway was taking market share from Union Pacific and will emerge in good position when consumer spending recovers thanks to an intermodal agreement with trucking operator JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. ...