About Lorie Tekorius
Lorie Tekorius, President and CEO of The Greenbrier Companies, has been discussing the company's financial performance and industry conditions in several media appearances and earnings calls. In September 2024, she noted that the company had recently reported its highest earnings per share in over four and a half years, with consolidated gross margins in the mid-teens. She attributed the company's share performance to the leadership team's focus on its footprint, facility investments, and improving manufacturing and aggregate gross margins. Tekorius also stated that the company is working toward goals of doubling recurring revenue and increasing return on invested capital.
Tekorius has also commented on trade and border issues affecting the rail industry. She described unannounced closures of rail crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border as a critical economic issue, stating that Mexico is the U.S.'s number one trade partner and that the closures disrupt commerce. She said she hopes policymakers can find a way to address the migration issue while maintaining cross-border trade. In other remarks, Tekorius noted that the rail industry is seeing a focus on infrastructure investment from both sides of the aisle, and that companies are shifting manufacturing to northern Mexico as part of a near-shoring trend following COVID-19 supply chain issues. She also discussed the company's involvement in Rail Pulse, an initiative to aggregate freight network information, and described technology and AI as evolving areas for the industry.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Lorie Tekorius's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
Transcript (12 segments)
J
Judy0:09
Joining me today on NYSE Floor Talk is Lorie Tekorius. She is the CEO at The Greenbrier Companies. Lorie, it is fantastic to have you here. Thanks for joining me today.
L
Lorie Tekorius0:17
Oh, thanks for having me, Judy. It's great to be here.
J
Judy0:20
Well, let's start off by talking about the company. What is The Greenbrier Companies?
L
Lorie Tekorius0:23
The Greenbrier Companies is a little bit confusing based on our name, but we are one of the world's largest builders of rail cars, freight rail cars. We also lease rail cars, we maintain rail cars. We have operations across the United States, in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Brazil. So we are a huge freight rail car provider across the world.
J
Judy0:43
Now, Lorie, you just rang the opening bell this morning. You are celebrating 30 years since your IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Now you've been with The Greenbrier Companies for nearly as long. Now tell me, what have been some of the biggest changes in the rail industry that you've seen?
L
Lorie Tekorius1:03
It's a great question because on some counts it feels like nothing ever changes, but then when you reflect back on it, yes, I've been with Greenbrier for 29 years. And I think back on it, we're actually celebrating the 40th anniversary of pioneering the intermodal rail car, which is where, for your viewers, right, so that's where you see a container stacked two on top of each other going down the rail. So that is where it's driven by consumer spending and consumer demand. So that's a big thing. We've also recently invented a high-strength steel gondola which supports infrastructure building, and a Multi-Max Plus which is a rail car that transports light vehicles as well as heavier duty vehicles. So a lot of innovation that's going on that I've seen over my 29 years with Greenbrier.
J
Judy1:52
Now, Lorie, give me a fun fact about freight rail.
L
Lorie Tekorius1:55
A fun fact about rail, and it ties into what I was talking about with automotive, is most of your viewers probably took some sort of car to get to work today. Well, 75% of the cars in North America move via rail. So people don't think about that. I think quite honestly a lot of times we as individuals and consumers, we don't think about where stuff comes from that we're buying on the shelves of the stores that we go to or that land on our front doorsteps. But often times those products some way, shape, or form have been in a rail car at some point in time.
J
Judy2:26
Now you became Greenbrier CEO in 2022, and in 2023 you hosted your first Investor Day on the Street and laid out some ambitious targets. So how's it going?
L
Lorie Tekorius2:38
You know, actually just a few weeks ago we posted our third quarter earnings. We had record EPS based on the last four and a half years. So that's really exciting. I'm so proud to represent the 14,000 employees that we have across the organization, and they are all top to bottom working hard to drive towards those goals of doubling our recurring revenue, increasing our return on invested capital, and having solid manufacturing or aggregate gross margins in the mid-teens. So everyone's pulling together, again from the shop floor all the way to the leadership team, to drive towards those goals. So I'm just really proud to be here.
J
Judy3:17
Well, Lorie, it's been wonderful to talk with you. Thanks for joining me on Floor Talk today.
L
Lorie Tekorius3:21
Thank you very much, Judy. It's great to be here.
