Union Pacific's fourth-quarter profit fell 10% as the railroad hauled 11% less freight.
The railroad said Thursday that it earned $1.4 billion, or $2.02 per share in the quarter. That's down from $1.55 billion, or $2.12 per share, a year earlier.
The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected earnings of $2.03 per share on average.
The railroad's revenue fell 9% to $5.21 billion in the period, short of projections for $5.17 billion on Wall Street.
Union Pacific cut its expenses 12% to $3.1 billion in response to the slower shipping volumes in the quarter.
The Omaha, Nebraska, based company operates 32,400 miles of track in 23 Western states.
Union Pacific shares have increased slightly since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased nearly 3%. The stock has risen 17% in the last 12 months.
Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UNP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UNP