Norfolk Southern price target raised to $280 from $255 at Susquehanna

Susquehanna raised the firm’s price target on Norfolk Southern to $280 from $255 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm says rail fundamentals enter Q4 a “mixed bag,” with the near term “sideways at best but emerging reasons for mid-term industrial optimism.” Rails now face a strike at all east and Gulf container ports that will hurt intermodal volumes, but on the positive side, volumes looked solid overall in Q3 despite mix pressures from intermodal, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Susquehanna looks for better entry points or slight cyclical improvement before positioning broadly for a rail recovery.