How to buy Kansas City Southern stock | $296.31

Kansas City Southern is a railroads business based in the US. Kansas City Southern shares (KSU) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Kansas City Southern employs 6,522 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around 0.00.

Kansas City Southern share price

Use our graph to track the performance of KSU stocks over time.

Kansas City Southern shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-04-30.

Latest market close	$296.31
52-week range	$121.18 - $304.99
50-day moving average	$258.96
200-day moving average	$213.43
Wall St. target price	$276.36
PE ratio	44.3728
Dividend yield	$1.78 (0.6%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	$6.64

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Is it a good time to buy Kansas City Southern stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Kansas City Southern by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Kansas City Southern price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $296.31 from 2021-05-06

1 week (2021-05-06)	N/A
1 month (2021-04-16)	15.07%
3 months (2021-02-17)	41.20%
6 months (2020-11-17)	54.67%

1 year (2020-05-15)	121.37%
2 years (2019-05-17)	142.98%
3 years (2018-05-17)	172.24%
5 years (2016-05-17)	228.65%

Is Kansas City Southern under- or over-valued?

Valuing Kansas City Southern stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Kansas City Southern's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Kansas City Southern's P/E ratio

Kansas City Southern's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 44x. In other words, Kansas City Southern shares trade at around 44x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Kansas City Southern's PEG ratio

Kansas City Southern's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.0035. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Kansas City Southern's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Kansas City Southern's EBITDA

Kansas City Southern's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $1.4 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Kansas City Southern's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Kansas City Southern financials

Revenue TTM	$2.6 billion
Operating margin TTM	38.98%
Gross profit TTM	$1.4 billion
Return on assets TTM	6.36%
Return on equity TTM	13.29%
Profit margin	23.71%
Book value	$46.63
Market capitalisation	$26.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Kansas City Southern shares

There are currently 2.6 million Kansas City Southern shares held short by investors – that's known as Kansas City Southern's "short interest". This figure is 166.3% up from 975,772 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Kansas City Southern shares can be evaluated.

Kansas City Southern's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Kansas City Southern's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Kansas City Southern shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Kansas City Southern shares traded daily (recently around 1.9 million). Kansas City Southern's SIR currently stands at 1.4. In other words for every 100,000 Kansas City Southern shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1400 shares are currently held short.

However Kansas City Southern's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Kansas City Southern shares, or, against the total number of tradable Kansas City Southern shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Kansas City Southern's short interest could be expressed as 0.03% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Kansas City Southern shares in existence, roughly 30 shares are currently held short) or 0.0323% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Kansas City Southern shares, roughly 32 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Kansas City Southern.

Find out more about how you can short Kansas City Southern stock.

Kansas City Southern's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Kansas City Southern.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Kansas City Southern's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 23

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Kansas City Southern's overall score of 23 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 32nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Kansas City Southern is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Kansas City Southern's environmental score

Environmental score: 8.17/100

Kansas City Southern's environmental score of 8.17 puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Kansas City Southern is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Kansas City Southern's social score

Social score: 8.49/100

Kansas City Southern's social score of 8.49 puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Kansas City Southern is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Kansas City Southern's governance score

Governance score: 4.84/100

Kansas City Southern's governance score puts it squarely in the 3rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Kansas City Southern is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Kansas City Southern's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Kansas City Southern scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Kansas City Southern has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Kansas City Southern was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	23
Total ESG percentile	31.62
Environmental score	8.17
Environmental score percentile	3
Social score	8.49
Social score percentile	3
Governance score	4.84
Governance score percentile	3
Level of controversy	2

Kansas City Southern share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 20.07% of net profits

Recently Kansas City Southern has paid out, on average, around 20.07% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.73% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Kansas City Southern shareholders could enjoy a 0.73% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Kansas City Southern's case, that would currently equate to about $1.78 per share.

While Kansas City Southern's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Kansas City Southern is investing more in its future growth.

Kansas City Southern's most recent dividend payout was on 6 April 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 4 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Kansas City Southern's shares ever split?

Kansas City Southern's shares were split on a 1:2 basis on 12 July 2000. So if you had owned 2 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 1 share. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Kansas City Southern shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 100% higher share price could have impacted the market appetite for Kansas City Southern shares which in turn could have impacted Kansas City Southern's share price.

Kansas City Southern share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Kansas City Southern's shares have ranged in value from as little as $121.1774 up to $304.99. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Kansas City Southern's is 1.0756. This would suggest that Kansas City Southern's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Kansas City Southern overview

Kansas City Southern, a transportation holding company, provides domestic and international rail transportation services in North America. The company serves a ten-state region in the Midwest and southeast regions of the United States and has the shortest north/south rail route between Kansas City, Missouri, and ports along the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It operates a commercial corridor of the Mexican railroad system and has its direct rail passageway between Mexico City and Laredo, Texas. The company provides rail access to the United States and Mexico border crossing at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; and controls and operates the southern half of the rail bridge at Laredo, Texas, as well as the northern half of this bridge. Kansas City Southern also offers rail access to the port of Lazaro Cardenas on the Pacific Ocean; and owns a 160-mile rail line extending from Laredo, Texas to the port city of Corpus Christi, Texas. Its rail network comprises approximately 7,100 route miles extending from the Midwest and Southeast portions of the United States south into Mexico. The company serves the chemical and petroleum, industrial and consumer products, agriculture and minerals, energy, intermodal, and automotive markets.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of Kansas City Southern is owned by insiders or institutions?
Currently 0.504% of Kansas City Southern shares are held by insiders and 88.456% by institutions. How many people work for Kansas City Southern?
Latest data suggests 6,522 work at Kansas City Southern. When does the fiscal year end for Kansas City Southern?
Kansas City Southern's fiscal year ends in December. Where is Kansas City Southern based?
Kansas City Southern's address is: 427 West 12th Street, Kansas City, MO, United States, 64105 What is Kansas City Southern's ISIN number?
Kansas City Southern's international securities identification number is: US4851703029 What is Kansas City Southern's CUSIP number?
Kansas City Southern's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 485170104