MARKETS / NYSE / NSC

NYSE · RAILROADS, LINE-HAUL OPERATING · LARGE CAP

Norfolk Southern Corp. NSC

19 fiscal years on record · USD · FY2025 reported · SEC filings only

Revenue

$12.2B

▲ 0.5% YoY

Net income

$2.9B

▲ 9.6% YoY

Free cash flow

$2.2B

▲ 29.1% YoY

In brief

What this company does

Norfolk Southern Corporation owns a major freight railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway Company. It is primarily engaged in the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods in the Southeast, East, and Midwest, and, via interchange with rail carriers, to and from the rest of the United States. It also transports overseas freight through several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. At December 31, 2025, the company operated approximately 19,100 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Total railway operating revenues were $12.2 billion in 2025. In 2025, the company handled 2.3 million merchandise carloads, which accounted for 63% of its total railway operating revenues. The company employed an average of 19,400 employees during 2025. Norfolk Southern was incorporated on July 23, 1980, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Written from the business description in NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP's annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 9 February 2026. Every sentence was checked against that document before publication.

Growth

USD 12.2B

Revenue, FY2025 · full 19-year series below

Revenue $B Net income $B

FY2025 · Revenue 12.2 · Net income 2.9

Compound annual growth

Revenue

−1.5%

+4.5%

+1.5%

+1.7%

Net income

−4.2%

+7.4%

EPS, diluted

−2.8%

+10.2%

+9.6%

+8.0%

Dividend / share

+2.9%

+7.5%

+8.6%

+9.4%

Returned to shareholders

−25.9%

−5.5%

−0.2%

+2.0%

3 yrs

5 yrs

10 yrs

15 yrs

Revenue compounded at +4.5% a year over five years — but profit grew faster: net income at +7.4%, earnings per share at +10.2%.

The share count fell from 0.25B to 0.22B — the buyback concentrates the same profit into fewer slices.

Compound annual rates per period — left blank where that exact year isn't on file, the series crosses a loss, or (per-share rows) a split falls inside the window.

Profitability

24 cents

of every revenue dollar became profit

Operating margin Net margin

FY2025 · Operating 35.8% · Net 23.6%

ROE

FY2025 · ROE 19.2%

Gross margin—

Operating margin35.8%

Net margin23.6%

Return on assets6.5%

EBITDAUSD 5.7B

Each USD of equity produced 19 cents of profit this year.

Cash & shareholders

USD 1.7B

returned in FY2025 · dividends + net buybacks

Free cash flow $B

FY2025 · FCF 2.2

Net buybacks $B Dividends $B

FY2025 · Dividends 1.2 · Net buybacks 0.5

Dividends paidUSD 1.2B

Net buybacksUSD 517.0M

Share of profit60.3%

Consecutive raises—

USD 1.2B in dividends and USD 517.0M in buybacks — 60% of the year's profit went back to shareholders.

Total assetsUSD 45.2B

EquityUSD 15.5B

CashUSD 1.5B

Gross debtUSD 17.1B

Net debtUSD 15.6B

Current ratio0.85×

Net debt stands at 100% of equity.

The 19-year record

19 fiscal years

Every figure from documents filed with the SEC · USD

row low → row highnegative

Metric	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007
Revenue $B	12.2	12.1	12.2	12.7	11.1	9.8	11.3	11.5	10.6	9.9	10.5	11.6	11.2	11.0	11.2	9.5	8.0	10.7	9.4
Operating income $B	4.4	4.1	2.9	4.8	4.4	3.0	4.0	4.0	3.5	3.0	2.9	3.6	3.3	3.1	3.2	2.7	2.0	3.1	2.6
EBITDA $B	5.7	5.4	4.1	6.0	5.6	4.2	5.1	5.1	4.6	4.0	3.9	4.5	4.2	4.0	4.1	3.5	2.8	3.9	3.4
Income tax $B	0.8	0.7	0.5	0.9	0.9	0.5	0.8	0.8	−2.3	0.9	0.9	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.6	1.0	0.8
Net income $B	2.9	2.6	1.8	3.3	3.0	2.0	2.7	2.7	5.4	1.7	1.6	2.0	1.9	1.7	1.9	1.5	1.0	1.7	1.5
Free cash flow $B	2.2	1.7	0.9	2.3	2.8	2.1	1.9	1.8	1.5	1.1	0.5	0.8	1.1	0.8	1.1	1.2	0.6	1.2	1.0
EPS, diluted $	12.75	11.57	8.02	13.88	12.11	7.84	10.25	9.51	18.61	5.62	5.10	6.39	6.04	5.37	5.45	4.00	2.76	4.52	3.68
Dividend / sh $	5.40	5.40	5.40	4.96	4.16	3.76	3.60	3.04	2.44	2.36	2.36	2.22	2.04	1.94	1.66	1.40	1.36	1.22	0.96
Payout %	42	47	67	36	34	48	35	32	13	42	46	34	33	36	30	34	48	27	26
ROE %	19.2	19.4	14.3	24.8	21.1	13.4	17.8	16.8	37.6	13.4	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	·	·
Shares out B	0.22	0.23	0.23	0.23	0.24	0.25	0.26	0.27	0.28	0.29	0.30	0.31	0.31	0.31	0.33	0.36	0.37	0.37	·

Slide the table for earlier years · "·" marks a figure not available in our data for that year.

Compare

This company against its peers

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Provenance

Company facts, as filed

How we verify · 0 failures in 68 reconciliationsAUDITED

Reconciled in 19 of 19 fiscal years. 8 checks could not be computed.

EPS recomputationBalance-sheet identityGross profitBalance-sheet liquiditymoeda_consistente0 failures

ActivityRailroads, Line-Haul Operating

Listed onNYSE

Incorporated inVirginia

Fiscal year endsDecember 31

Data on record since2007