What is an income statement waterfall?

An income statement waterfall is a bar chart that walks from total revenue down to net income, with each step showing how much a cost or tax line removes (or adds). Subtotals — gross profit, operating income, pre-tax income — are anchored to zero so the cascade reconciles exactly to the bottom line.

How much of Canadian National Railway (CNI) revenue becomes net income?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Canadian National Railway turned 17.3B CAD of revenue into 4.71B CAD of net income — a net margin of 27.2%. The waterfall shows where the rest goes: cost of revenue, operating expenses, non-operating items, and taxes.

What are Canadian National Railway (CNI) gross, operating, and net margins?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Canadian National Railway reported a gross margin of 44.2%, an operating margin of 37.8%, and a net margin of 27.2%. Each subtotal in the waterfall corresponds to one of these margins.

Why does Canadian National Railway (CNI) have such a high (or low) gross margin?

Gross margin (gross profit ÷ revenue) reflects how much of each revenue dollar remains after direct production costs. Capital-light software and platform businesses often show gross margins above 60–80% because their cost of revenue is mainly hosting and support. Hardware, retail, and commodity businesses show lower gross margins because raw materials and manufacturing costs are significant. The waterfall makes this visible at a glance — the size of the "Cost of Revenue" bar relative to Revenue is the gross margin complement.

What is the difference between gross, operating, and net margin?

Gross margin = (Revenue − Cost of Revenue) ÷ Revenue. It measures production efficiency. Operating margin = Operating Income ÷ Revenue. It adds operating expenses (R&D, S&M, G&A) and measures the profitability of core operations. Net margin = Net Income ÷ Revenue. It also includes interest, other income/expense, and taxes, and represents the shareholder take after everything.

Canadian National Railway (CNI) Income Statement Waterfall

Revenue

17.3B CAD

Gross Margin

+44.2%

Operating Margin

+37.8%

Net Margin

+27.2%

Income statement waterfall for Canadian National Railway (CNI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Net income: 4.71B CAD

Margin breakdown for Canadian National Railway (CNI) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Revenue	17.3B CAD	17.3B CAD
Cost of Revenue	-9.65B CAD	7.64B CAD
Gross Profit	7.64B CAD	7.64B CAD
Operating Expenses	-1.12B CAD	6.53B CAD
Operating Income	6.53B CAD	6.53B CAD
Other Income / Expense	-268M CAD	6.26B CAD
Pre-tax Income	6.26B CAD	6.26B CAD
Income Tax	-1.55B CAD	4.71B CAD
Net Income	4.71B CAD	4.71B CAD

Revenue17.3B CAD
Cost of Revenue-9.65B CAD
Gross Profit7.64B CAD
Operating Expenses-1.12B CAD
Operating Income6.53B CAD
Other Income / Expense-268M CAD
Pre-tax Income6.26B CAD
Income Tax-1.55B CAD
Net Income4.71B CAD

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