CP vs NSC Stock Comparison

Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Norfolk Southern Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
NSC Norfolk Southern Corp
$329.85 +4.7% 1M +16.2% 1Y
Market cap
$75.04B
P/E
28.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$12.96B
Div. yield
0.02%
Railroads Industrials
6 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Canadian Pacific Kansas City leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Canadian Pacific Kansas City 6, Norfolk Southern 6). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCPNSCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $79.59B $75.04B CP
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 28.4x 28.0x NSC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 23.1x 27.3x CP
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +4.6% +6.0% NSC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 25.0% 20.7% CP
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 6.0% 9.7% NSC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 2.7x NSC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.02% NSC
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +17.9% +16.2% CP
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +3.3%/yr +2.9%/yr CP
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 22.7% 20.9% NSC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 44/100 35/100 CP

Percentile Scorecard

CPNSC

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCPNSC
Valuation 12 #120 of 136 10 #123 of 136
Growth 51 #60 of 122 46 #67 of 122
Profitability 59 #49 of 119 67 #40 of 119
Financial Health 28 #106 of 147 30 #103 of 147
Shareholder Returns 69 #27 of 84 21 #67 of 84
Overall 44 35
  • CP ranked among 150 companies in Transportation
  • NSC ranked among 150 companies in Transportation

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCPNSCSPY
1 month +1.4%+4.7% -1.0%
3 months -3.1%-5.9% +2.9%
6 months +3.0%+3.2% +6.4%
Year to date +21.6%+14.2% +11.4%
1 year +17.9%+16.2% +13.1%
3 years +28.9%+68.1% +79.4%
3 years, per year +8.8%+18.9% +21.5%
5 years +17.6%+15.1% +67.7%
5 years, per year +3.3%+2.9% +10.9%
10 years +204.4%+255.0% +255.2%
10 years, per year +11.8%+13.5% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureCPNSCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 22.7%20.9% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 21.8%20.2% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.440.18 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.790.78 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -26.5%-38.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -7.4%-6.6% -2.5%
52-week high $96.69$352.99 $779.14
52-week low $68.88$278.19 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCPNSC
P/E now vs peer median 28.4xmedian 16.0x 27.6xmedian 16.0x
P/S now vs peer median 7.0xmedian 1.0x 5.7xmedian 1.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.2xmedian 8.7x 16.2xmedian 8.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 44.8xmedian 11.5x 45.0xmedian 11.5x
P/B now vs peer median 2.3xmedian 1.2x 4.4xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median -10.52median 0.82 3.07median 0.82

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCPNSC
Revenue $11.18B $12.96B
Operating income $4.11B $4.09B
Net income $2.80B $2.68B
Free cash flow $1.76B $1.65B
EPS (diluted) $3.15 $11.92
Cash & equivalents $257.58M $1.60B
Total debt $69.26B $67.41B
Shares (diluted) 887.10M 225.20M
Enterprise value $78.61B $69.50B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCPNSC
P/E 28.4x 27.6x
P/FCF 44.8x 45.0x
P/Operating cash flow 19.8x 19.6x
P/S 7.0x 5.7x
P/B 2.3x 4.4x
P/Tangible book 2.5x 4.4x
EV/EBITDA 17.2x 16.2x
EV/EBIT 23.4x 21.8x
EV/Revenue 8.6x 6.9x
EV/FCF 54.8x 54.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 24.2x 23.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -10.52 3.07

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCPNSC
Revenue growth (1Y) 4.6% 6.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 13.6% 1.7%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – –
Operating income growth (1Y) 5.7% -10.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 14.1% 8.2%
Net income growth (1Y) -6.7% -9.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.4% 8.7%
EPS growth (1Y) -2.7% -9.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -2.7% 9.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 1.1% -11.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 5.1% 4.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -3.8% -21.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -3.3% 13.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCPNSC
Gross margin – –
EBITDA margin 50.0% 42.5%
Operating margin 36.7% 31.5%
Pretax margin 33.4% 26.4%
Net margin 25.0% 20.7%
FCF margin 15.7% 12.7%
Operating cash flow margin 35.6% 29.2%
Return on equity 8.3% 16.3%
Return on assets 4.4% 5.9%
Return on invested capital 6.0% 9.7%
Return on capital employed 7.0% 9.8%
Asset turnover 0.2x 0.3x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCPNSC
Debt / assets 28.2% 36.2%
Debt / equity 0.5x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 2.7x
Debt / FCF 10.1x 10.1x
Liabilities / assets 46.7% 63.6%
Equity / assets 53.3% 36.4%
Interest coverage – 5.2x
Current ratio 0.6x 0.9x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.8x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 2.28 2.53

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCPNSC
Dividend yield 1.1% 1.6%
Net buyback yield 3.8% 0.0%
Shareholder yield 4.9% 1.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) 21.1% 45.2%
Payout ratio (FCF) 33.7% 73.6%
Dividend growth (1Y) 11.3% -0.4%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 3.9% 0.2%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCPNSC
Forward P/E 23.1xFY2026 27.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.87FY2026 $12.07FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.2%FY2026 -3.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +12.9% +24.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.35BFY2026 $13.99BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +12.5%FY2026 +14.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -3.4% +2.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCPNSC
Held by institutions 69.7% 75.9%
Institutions holding 973 1,862
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.5% +1.5%
Institutions buying 439 750
Institutions selling 293 631
Buyers to sellers 1.50 1.19

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CPNSC
CP 1.00 0.64
NSC 0.64 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CP and NSC?

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) is the largest by market capitalisation: Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) $79.59B, Norfolk Southern (NSC) $75.04B.

Which stock is cheaper, CP and NSC?

Norfolk Southern (NSC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 28.4x, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 28.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) is cheapest (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 23.1x, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 27.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Norfolk Southern (NSC) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) +4.6%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) +6.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) has the highest net margin (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 25.0%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 20.7%). On return on invested capital, Norfolk Southern (NSC) leads (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 6.0%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 9.7%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) returned the most: Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) +17.9%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) +16.2%. Over five years, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) compounded fastest (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) +3.3%/yr, Norfolk Southern (NSC) +2.9%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Norfolk Southern (NSC) has the highest dividend yield: Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 0.01%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 0.02%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Norfolk Southern (NSC) has been the steadiest (Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) 22.7%, Norfolk Southern (NSC) 20.9%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do CP and NSC move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.64, a moderate positive relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, CP and NSC?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.