UP Shares Drop 3% with COO Departure Announcement

[C855B]

After the bell yesterday, UP announced COO Jim Vena is leaving at the end of the year. Vena is one of the principal architects behind "precision scheduled railroading", bringing the philosophy to UP [opinion]after contaminating CP and CN with the shipper- and employee-hostile operating method[/opinion]. Investors are apparently unhappy about the change, [opinion]wringing their hands[/opinion] concerned about what will happen next year with the loss of his brand of leadership.

[opinion]Hopefully whoever steps in will restore some sense to operations to assure the RR has a strong long-term outlook with happier clients and a stable base of experienced and capable railroaders versus the short-sightedness of PSR in the name of this-quarter-maybe-next-quarter ROI.[/opinion]

[Englewood]

Don't expect an end to PSR at Uncle Pete. They will continue to destroy the company until they've wrung every penny out of it. From what I've read, their revenue dropped 10% this past quarter. (They report earnings tomorrow before the bell.) Expect their answer to be more layoffs, job cuts, and more parked locomotives. I think that's the real reason the stock dropped today.

[Blazeman]

Glad I sold my holdings in late September.