Demand for Coal Pushes Up American Railcar Revenue

By Tim McLaughlin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mar. 9–Fourth-quarter revenue at Carl Icahn’s American Railcar Industries Inc. of St. Charles surged 65 percent to $166 million as demand for cars that carry coal pushed customer orders to record levels.

The company released fourth-quarter and full-year financial results Wednesday evening after the stock market closed. The company said its backlog of unfilled customer orders totaled 14,510 railcars at the end of December, or nearly double the number at the end of 2004.

Since their Nasdaq debut in January, American Railcar shares have climbed 50 percent. The company, controlled by billionaire financier Icahn, raised about $186.5 million in net proceeds from the initial public offering.

Wall Street analysts say the high cost of natural gas relative to coal should continue to spur demand for railcars that carry coal.

The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.84 million, or 17 cents a share, after paying $2.1 million in preferred dividends. That compared to a net loss of $4.9 million, or 48 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Revenue for the three months that ended Dec. 31 was $166 million, up from $100.7 million.

Full-year revenue rose to $608.2 million, up from $355.1 million in 2004. The company’s net earnings for the year were $1.5 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a year-ago net loss of $11.3 million, or $1.12 a share.

American Railcar shipped 6,875 railcars in 2005, up from 4,384 in 2004.

Shares of American Railcar fell $1.31, or 4 percent, to $31.59 in Wednesday trading.

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