By Sam Boughedda
On Monday, Canadian National Railway Co (NYSE:CNI) named Edmond (Ed) Harris as its Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, succeeding Rob Reilly, effective immediately.
Reilly joined Canadian National in 2019 and led the company's operating team through the pandemic and supply chain challenges. Harris is an industry veteran with a career in operations spanning 40 years, including over three decades working at Illinois Central and CN.
Following the news, BofA analysts said they believe this is a positive move "to re-establish the CN leadership training bench and operational methodology that made CN the industry leader for 20+ years."
They raised the firm's price target on the stock to $140 from $131, maintaining a Buy rating on the stock.
"Since creating PSR at Illinois Central, which CN purchased in 1998, Mr. Harrison and Mr. Harris shifted CN's operational methodology to improve asset utilization, on-time performance, and returns on invested capital. It was very successful, reducing CN's operating ratio from 77% in 1997 to 64% in 2010, the year after Mr. Harrison's departure, posting its best tenure level at 61.8% in 2006," added the analysts. "In that 13-year period, the company nearly tripled its operating income from C$1.2 bil to C$3.0 bil (7.5% CAGR). Over the successive 12-year period, the company's operating ratio improved only from 63.6% to 61.2% in 2021, lifting operating income from $3.0 bil to $5.6 bil (5.8% CAGR)."