Raymond James upgraded Canadian National Railway to "outperform" from "market perform," and said the Canadian railroad outlook continues to look bright.

"While economic growth is expected to moderate and year-over-year volume hurdles are rising, we continue to foresee healthy carload growth facilitating further operating leverage and commensurate earnings-per-share growth," analyst Steven Hansen said.

Hansen said except for agricultural products, growth was robust across all end markets.

"Intermodal, metallic ores and chemicals accounted for the bulk of new Canadian carloads," the analyst said, adding that second-quarter railroad volume patterns reflect a robust port activity.