You say CP, I say CN !!

Today’s article will discuss Canadian Pacific (CP) & Canadian National (CNI) ADRs.These are the two great railroads of Canada. CP and CN help Canada move its vast wealth of natural resources and other goods from one point to another.

1. Canadian National – CNI

Canadian National has about 20,264 rote-miles in Canada and US. The company has over 21,685 employees including 5000+ in US. CNI operates the largest rail network in Canada. Its Prince Rupert Terminal in British Columbia (BC) will help increase revenue and freight traffic once it becomes fully operational.

The CN ADR stock has been a great performer for the past few years.

Details:
Yield 1.63%
Mkt Cap = $25B
Revenue = $7.8B

Dividends have been increasing for a many quarters now.The stock is down 8%+ from the 52 Week high.

2. Canadian Pacific – CP
CP was founded in 1881. Has over 14K mile network in the US and Canada.

Details:
Yield 1.27%
Mkt Cap = $10B
Revenue = $4.6B

Dividends have been increasing for a many quarters now.The stock is down 18.70%+ from the 52 Week high.

Which one is a better investment – CP or CN?
This is a difficult question to answer. I would say both are good investments for the long-term. However recently CP has been doing better than CN. Below are some performance observations to review.

CN Performance:

The stock performance beat the S&P; Index returns from 2003 to 2007
Also beat the Land Transport Industry index returns from 2003 to 2007
Dividends have been increasing
A $10K investment made on Jan 2nd, 2003 would be worth $37,718.11 today. Thats a return of 277.18%. Calculation excludes dividend investments.
Return about 14.2% in 2007.

CP Performance:

The stock performance beat the S&P; Index returns from 2003 to 2007
Also beat the Land Transport Industry index returns from 2003 to 2007
Dividends have been increasing
A $10K investment made on Jan 2nd, 2003 would be worth about $33,000.00 today. Calculation excludes dividend investments.
Return about 24.1% in 2007.

Some articles from from SeekingAlpha on CNI and CP:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/47823-dividend-analysis-of-canadian-national-railway-company

http://seekingalpha.com/article/58093-buying-opportunity-for-investors-at-cn-rail

http://seekingalpha.com/article/62444-cp-rail-analysts-expect-a-strong-showing-in-2008