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Canadian National Railway (CNI) Stock Forecast & Price Target

Canadian National Railway logo
$124.92 +2.87 (+2.35%)
Closing price 10/22/2026 03:59 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$124.92 0.00 (0.00%)
As of 10/22/2026 07:33 PM Eastern
Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more.

Canadian National Railway - Analysts' Recommendations and Stock Price Forecast (2026)

Consensus Rating

Sell
0
Hold
10
Buy
9

Based on 19 Wall Street analysts who have issued ratings for Canadian National Railway in the last 12 months, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold." Out of the 19 analysts, 10 have given a hold rating, and 9 have given a buy rating for CNI.

Consensus Price Target

$137.49
10.06% Upside
According to the 19 analysts' twelve-month price targets for Canadian National Railway, the average price target is $137.49. The highest price target for CNI is $205.00, while the lowest price target for CNI is $100.00. The average price target represents a forecasted upside of 10.06% from the current price of $124.92.
MarketBeat calculates consensus analyst ratings for stocks using the most recent rating from each Wall Street analyst that has rated a stock within the last twelve months. Each analyst's rating is normalized to a standardized rating score of 1 (sell), 2 (hold), 3 (buy) or 4 (strong buy). Analyst consensus ratings scores are calculated using the mean average of the number of normalized sell, hold, buy and strong buy ratings from Wall Street analysts. Each stock's consensus analyst rating is derived from its calculated consensus ratings score (0 to .5 = Strong Sell, .5 to 1 = Sell, 1 to 1.5 = Reduce, 1.5 to 2.5 = Hold, 2.5 to 3.0 = Moderate Buy, 3.0 to 3.5 = Buy, >3.5 = Strong Buy). MarketBeat's consensus price targets are a mean average of the most recent available price targets set by each analyst that has set a price target for the stock in the last twelve months. MarketBeat's consensus ratings and consensus price targets may differ from those calculated by other firms due to differences in methodology and available data.
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CNI Analyst Ratings Over Time

TypeCurrent Forecast
10/23/25 to 10/23/26
1 Month Ago
9/23/25 to 9/23/26
3 Months Ago
7/25/25 to 7/25/26
1 Year Ago
10/23/24 to 10/23/25
Strong Buy
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
Buy
9 Buy rating(s)
9 Buy rating(s)
8 Buy rating(s)
7 Buy rating(s)
Hold
10 Hold rating(s)
9 Hold rating(s)
8 Hold rating(s)
9 Hold rating(s)
Sell
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Sell rating(s)
2 Sell rating(s)
Consensus Price Target$137.49$137.40$132.12$113.90
Forecasted Upside10.06% Upside14.87% Upside2.00% Upside18.50% Upside
Consensus RatingHoldModerate BuyModerate BuyHold

CNI Analyst Recommendations By Month

The chart below shows how a company's ratings by analysts have changed over time. Each bar represents the previous year of ratings for that month. Within each bar, the sell ratings are shown in red, the hold ratings are shown in yellow, the buy ratings are shown in green, and the strong buy ratings are shown in dark green.
Skip Chart & View Analyst Rating History

CNI Price Targets by Month

The chart below shows how a company's share price and consensus price target have changed over time. The dark blue line represents the company's actual price. The lighter blue line represents the stock's consensus price target. The even lighter blue range in the background of the two lines represents the low price target and the high price target for each stock.
Skip Chart and View Analyst Price Target HistorySkip Chart & View Price History Table

Canadian National Railway Stock vs. The Competition

TypeCanadian National RailwayIndustrials CompaniesBroader Market
Consensus Rating Score
2.47
2.30
2.53
Consensus RatingHoldHoldModerate Buy
Predicted Upside9.66% Upside142.13% Upside16.29% Upside
News Sentiment Rating
Positive News

See Recent CNI News
Neutral News
Positive News
Report Date
0 Results
DateBrokerageAnalystActionRatingPrice TargetReport Date
Upside/Downside
Details
10/19/2026 DowngradeModerate Buy ➝ Hold
10/7/2026
Citigroup Inc. logo
Citigroup
4 of 5 stars
Ariel Rosa
4 of 5 stars
Lower TargetBuy$151.00 ➝ $143.00+23.29%
10/2/2026
Susquehanna logo
Susquehanna
4 of 5 stars
Bascome Majors
Bascome Majors
4 of 5 stars
Lower TargetNeutral$142.00 ➝ $130.00+10.91%
9/23/2026Lower TargetBuy$146.00 ➝ $143.00+19.57%
8/31/2026Reiterated RatingHold
8/13/2026 UpgradeHold (C+) ➝ Buy (B-)
7/27/2026 Reiterated RatingHold
7/27/2026Boost TargetOutperform$195.00 ➝ $205.00+58.17%
7/27/2026Boost TargetOverweight$135.00 ➝ $145.00+11.94%
7/27/2026Boost TargetEqual Weight$109.00 ➝ $130.00+0.36%
7/15/2026 Initiated CoverageMarket Perform
7/8/2026 UpgradeHold
6/25/2026Set Target$124.00+6.94%
6/25/2026Boost TargetOutperformerC$182.00 ➝ C$185.00
6/25/2026 UpgradeIn-Line ➝ Outperform$108.00 ➝ $124.00+6.94%
3/31/2026Boost TargetMarket Perform$113.88 ➝ $117.36+15.98%
2/2/2026 Reiterated RatingOutperform
2/2/2026 DowngradeStrong-Buy ➝ Hold
1/5/2026 UpgradeHold ➝ Buy
11/28/2025 UpgradeStrong Sell ➝ Hold
7/23/2025 Reiterated RatingOverweight ➝ Neutral
4/14/2025Lower TargetBuy$125.00 ➝ $115.00+15.13%
4/9/2025Lower TargetBuy$120.00 ➝ $110.00+18.02%
2/3/2025DowngradeHold ➝ Sell
1/13/2025UpgradeHold ➝ Strong-Buy
10/23/2024UpgradeHold ➝ Strong-Buy

Analyst ratings data on MarketBeat is provided by Benzinga and other data providers. This page was last refreshed on Friday at 01:04 AM ET.


Should I Buy Canadian National Railway Stock? CNI Pros and Cons Explained

These pros and cons were generated based on recent news and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate insights. They were last updated on Monday, October 19, 2026. Please send any questions or comments about these Canadian National Railway pros and cons to contact@marketbeat.com.

Canadian National Railway
Bull Case

green Wall Street bull icon

Here are some ways that investors could benefit from investing in Canadian National Railway:

  • Canadian National Railway recently set a new quarterly record for grain movement, transporting 7.94 million metric tonnes in the third quarter of 2026, which surpasses the previous record of 7.48 million metric tonnes set in 2020 and indicates strong demand and supply-chain coordination.
  • The company reported second-quarter earnings of $1.50 per share, which exceeded the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11, demonstrating strong profitability with a return on equity of 22.22% and a net margin of 26.92%.
  • Analysts currently assign a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $137.49, which represents significant upside potential from the current stock price of $120.12 as of October 19, 2026.
  • Revenue for the most recent quarter reached $3.35 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion and marking an 11.3% increase compared to the same quarter in the prior year, reflecting robust business growth.
  • The stock offers a dividend yield of 2.13% with a payout ratio of 46.10%, providing a sustainable income stream for investors while the company maintains a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Canadian National Railway
Bear Case

red Wall Street bear icon

Investors should be bearish about investing in Canadian National Railway for these reasons:

  • Several major institutional investors, including Value Partners Investments Inc. and PineStone Asset Management Inc., reduced their holdings in the third quarter of 2026, with Value Partners trimming its position by 23.1% and PineStone selling 119,700 shares.
  • Short interest in the stock increased by 18.19% in the most recent reporting period, with 6,384,869 shares shorted as of September 30, 2026, suggesting growing bearish sentiment among traders.
  • The company's current ratio is 0.87 and quick ratio is 0.61, indicating that its current liabilities exceed its current assets, which may signal potential liquidity constraints in the short term.
  • Some analysts have recently lowered their price targets, such as Citigroup cutting its target from $151.00 to $143.00 and Susquehanna reducing its target from $142.00 to $130.00, reflecting cautious outlooks on future performance.
  • The stock's beta of 0.96 suggests it moves in line with the broader market, offering limited downside protection during market downturns compared to lower-beta defensive stocks.

CNI Forecast - Frequently Asked Questions

According to the research reports of 19 Wall Street equities research analysts, the average twelve-month stock price forecast for Canadian National Railway is $137.49, with a high forecast of $205.00 and a low forecast of $100.00.

19 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Canadian National Railway in the last year. There are currently 10 hold ratings and 9 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" CNI shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in CNI, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

According to analysts, Canadian National Railway's stock has a predicted upside of 10.06% based on their 12-month stock forecasts.

Over the previous 90 days, Canadian National Railway's stock had 2 upgrades and 1 downgrade by analysts.

Canadian National Railway has been rated by research analysts at Argus, Bank of America, Barclays, Benchmark, Citigroup, Raymond James Financial, Royal Bank Of Canada, Susquehanna, Weiss Ratings, and Wells Fargo & Company in the past 90 days.

Analysts like Canadian National Railway more than other "industrials" companies. The consensus rating score for Canadian National Railway is 2.47 while the average consensus rating score for "industrials" companies is 2.30. Learn more on how CNI compares to other companies.


MarketBeat monitors more than a dozen sources for Canadian National Railway analyst ratings, with the most recent rating issued on 10/19/2026.
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