Is NSC a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Norfolk Southern Corporation on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how NSC compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Norfolk Southern Corporation's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to NSC based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes NSC a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

NSC - Norfolk Southern Corporation

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Hold DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $329.86 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

C+ 60.3 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for stable earnings power businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 20%

D+ 43.1

5yr Avg ROIC 10.1% 60/100
Operating Margin Trend -1.86 pp/yr 3/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

A 87.7

5yr Avg ROE 17.5% 86/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -2.4% 91/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

D+ 39.5

5yr Revenue CAGR 2.3% 39/100
5yr EPS CAGR 1.3% 29/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 3/5 60/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

B+ 76.2

5yr FCF Margin 16.2% 84/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 0.69x 67/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

C+ 59.4

Net Debt / EBITDA 2.66x 57/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 5.63x 68/100
Altman Z-Score 2.41 54/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

B- 62.8

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.37 47/100
Piotroski F-Score 8 89/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 2/5 60/100

4 of 4 gurus held; 4 trimmed.

Holders: 4
Avg Δ position: -45.8%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Loeb decreased -90%
Greenblatt decreased -48%
Wood decreased -45%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (20%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (15%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (20%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (15%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.