RAILROAD STOCKS GAINED SPEED last Tuesday on shareholder-friendly moves by giant CSX Corp. and on acquisition activity in the sector.
The largest rail system in the eastern U.S., the company (ticker: CSX), a Dow Jones transports component, rode to a 52-week high of 47.38 after announcing it will hike its quarterly common dividend 25% and repurchase another $1 billion worth of its stock. The enriched buyback brings the company's total current program to $3 billion (about 15% of its total market capitalization) through 2008. CSX also plans to invest $6.4 billion in operations over the next four years.
