Railroad giant CSX jumps 3% after earnings leak early and beat expectations

CSX, one of the nation's largest railroads, announced earnings that beat expectations a little bit earlier than was planned.

The company reported earnings of $0.47 per share against analyst expectations of $0.44 per share. Operating income also came in above forecasts at $840 million versus the expected $803.9 million.

The earnings appeared to have leaked early, as CSX was anticipated to release them after the closing bell, but the company confirmed the legitimacy of the earnings soon after the leak.

Revenue declined 12% from the same quarter a year ago, which CSX said was driven by shipping volume declines that were off by 9% year-over-year. Coal volumes, which have an outsized impact on CSX and other railroads, declined by 30% from the year before.

Total traffic for US railroads is down 7.7% year-to-date in 2016 compared to 2015, with coal volumes actually up slightly for the year by 1.9% according to the American Association of Railroads.

"In this environment, the company continues to right-size resources while making strategic investments to transform the company and capitalize on market opportunities to drive long-term value creation," said CEO Michael Ward in a statement accompanying the earnings.

CSX said that it still projected a decline for earnings per share and revenue in 2016.

Following the news, CSX stock jumped 3.35% to $27.92 a share as of 3:11 p.m. ET.