The Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX: AZJ) share price finished in the red in 2021 after a roller-coaster year.
Shares in the rail freight operator fell from $3.91 to $3.49 during the year, shedding 10.74%. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gained around 13%.
Let's take a look at what contributed to this fall in 2021.
What happened to the Aurizon share price last year?
Aurizon's share price had a few major bumps and drops in the first 10 months of the year, before a dramatic collapse in October. By the end of December, the company's share price had partially recovered some of that loss.
Aurizon transports about half the country's coal exports. The company carried 202 million tonnes of the commodity in the 2021 financial year.
The Aurizon share price gained 9.4% between market close on 4 February and 16 February. Investors reacted positively to news the Foreign Investment Review Board had approved Aurizon's sale of the Acacia Ridge Terminal to Pacific National. The company's half-year results also saw Aurizon's bulk business earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 27% to $140 million.
A major dip took place between 15 April and 19 May. In that week Aurizon shares fell nearly 13%, despite no price-sensitive news from the company. However, quarterly above rail volumes released by the company on 21 April showed the quarter ended March coal volumes were down 6% due to less customer demand.
In August, Aurizon shares reached a 52-week high of $4.13. Impacting investor sentiment may have been an outperform rating and $4.32 price target issued by Macquarie. Shares then fell on the back of the release of Aurizon's full-year results, showing a 1% revenue drop in FY21. Morgan Stanley also lowered its price target on Aurizon shares to $3.92.
Off the rails
But the most dramatic fall for the company took place between market close on 21 October and 29 October, when shares fell 13% in eight days. This was despite Aurizon signing an agreement with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) subsidiary Macquarie Asset Management to take over One Rail Australia for $2.35 billion.
However, during the same timeframe, the price of coal dropped from US$228.50 per tonne to $143 per tonne.
Finally, the Aurizon share price soared nearly 7% from $3.32 to $3.55 between market close on 6 December and 30 December. That was despite no news from the company. It was likely coal prices were again impacting investor sentiment. During this time, coal jumped from US$122.20 per tonne to $130 per tonne, up 6.3%.
Foolish takeaway
While the Aurizon share price had a 2021 to forget, investors have seen gains in the past month.
Since this time last month, the company's shares have risen nearly 8%, while they are up nearly 5% this past week. At the time of writing, Aurizon shares are trading at $3.66, up 0.27% today.
The company has a market capitalisation of roughly $6.7 billion based on its current share price.
