Norfolk Southern key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Norfolk Southern had return on equity of 19.2%, an operating margin of 35.8%, debt equal to 109.9% of equity and a current ratio of 0.85. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Norfolk Southern: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Operating margin	24.6%	28.1%	28.8%	28.3%	29.0%	30.8%	27.4%	30.4%	33.4%	34.6%	35.3%	30.7%	39.9%	37.7%	23.5%	33.6%	35.8%	31.5%
Net margin	12.9%	15.6%	17.1%	15.8%	17.0%	17.2%	14.7%	16.8%	51.2%	23.3%	24.1%	20.6%	27.0%	25.7%	15.0%	21.6%	23.6%	20.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	7.0%	13.1%	9.6%	7.5%	9.8%	6.3%	5.0%	11.6%	14.5%	15.5%	16.6%	21.9%	25.0%	17.8%	7.0%	13.8%	17.7%	12.7%
Return on equity	9.9%	14.2%	18.6%	17.8%	18.1%	16.8%	12.6%	13.5%	37.6%	16.8%	17.8%	13.4%	21.1%	24.8%	14.3%	19.4%	19.2%	16.6%
Return on assets	3.7%	5.4%	6.8%	5.9%	6.1%	6.1%	4.6%	4.8%	15.3%	7.4%	7.3%	5.3%	7.9%	8.5%	4.5%	6.1%	6.5%	5.9%
Asset turnover	0.29	0.34	0.39	0.38	0.36	0.35	0.31	0.29	0.30	0.32	0.30	0.26	0.29	0.33	0.30	0.28	0.27	0.28
Current ratio	1.26	1.19	1.03	1.08	1.33	1.56	1.13	0.98	0.84	0.72	0.90	1.07	0.86	0.76	1.24	0.90	0.85	0.90
Debt to equity	69.1%	65.8%	76.1%	89.0%	83.7%	72.4%	82.8%	82.3%	60.1%	72.5%	80.3%	85.7%	101.5%	119.2%	134.4%	120.3%	109.9%	99.3%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	4.2x	5.8x	7.1x	6.3x	6.2x	6.6x	5.3x	5.3x	6.4x	7.1x	6.6x	4.8x	6.9x	6.9x	3.9x	5.0x	5.5x	5.2x
Effective tax rate	—	—	34.3%	36.6%	35.6%	36.2%	36.3%	35.4%	—	23.1%	22.0%	20.4%	22.5%	20.8%	21.3%	21.2%	21.6%	21.7%
Capital spending as % of revenue	16.3%	15.4%	19.3%	20.3%	17.5%	18.2%	22.7%	19.1%	16.3%	17.0%	17.9%	15.3%	13.2%	15.3%	19.1%	19.6%	18.1%	16.5%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	54.7%	83.6%	55.7%	47.1%	58.0%	36.8%	33.7%	69.0%	28.3%	66.6%	68.8%	106.5%	92.7%	69.5%	46.6%	63.7%	75.1%	61.4%
Dividends ÷ net income	48.7%	34.5%	30.1%	35.7%	33.4%	34.5%	46.0%	41.8%	13.0%	31.7%	34.9%	47.7%	34.2%	35.7%	67.0%	46.6%	42.3%	45.2%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	89.1%	110.7%	246.2%	232.0%	114.2%	136.9%	341.9%	130.6%	112.1%	204.2%	162.7%	111.9%	158.6%	188.1%	216.8%	73.1%	81.1%	74.0%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Norfolk Southern: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Operating margin	37.4%	38.3%	37.8%	35.4%	31.5%	29.3%	32.4%	32.6%
Net margin	24.2%	25.1%	24.7%	22.9%	21.7%	18.2%	21.2%	21.5%
Free-cash-flow margin	9.1%	16.7%	19.4%	23.2%	11.2%	−1.3%	17.7%	20.9%
Current ratio	0.90	0.78	0.79	0.86	0.85	0.91	0.83	0.90
Debt to equity	120.3%	114.8%	111.3%	108.8%	109.9%	104.4%	98.2%	95.4%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $45.9bn

Short-term assets $3.3bnLonger-term assets $42.6bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $45.9bn

Short-term liabilities $3.7bnLonger-term liabilities $25.5bnShareholders' equity $16.7bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $3.3bn of assets due within a year against $3.7bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $3.3bn short-term assets against $25.5bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $1.6bn of cash against $16.0bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 95% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 102% to 95% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $3.8bn of operating cash flow against $16.0bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $4.1bn against $782m of interest.

From Norfolk Southern's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

83 /100

Strong moat

How hard Norfolk Southern's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 9 / 20

Net income has been a median 6.2% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 20 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 33.1%; its worst year was 26.2%.
Cash conversion 18 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 16.1% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 10.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.4% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from Norfolk Southern's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 23, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Norfolk Southern.