CSX's CEO Should Keep His Job

Cramer Rides the Rails

CSX CEO Michael Ward is on the line with Mad Money's Jim Cramer.

CSX shareholders want to get rid of Chief Executive Michael Ward. But it’s hard to figure out why. As Ward told Cramer on Monday, the company’s near the top of both its own industry and the S&P 500.

“I don’t think any of our shareholders should be unhappy,” Ward said.

CSX trains are moving materials from some of the economy’s best bull markets: grain, coal, fertilizer, metals. That business and the strong productivity and superior customer service Ward claims are going straight to the bottom line, helping CSX meet the 5% to 6% same-store sales guidance he’d predicted.

Bold guidance like that is proof that CSX is confident about its prospects, Ward said, so “I think all our shareholders are going to be well rewarded over time.”

Cramer, who has defended Ward before, agreed: “I have 499 CEOs in the S&P 500 that I would get rid of before this guy.”

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