Saia Sets Records Despite Challenging First Quarter
Despite a challenging first quarter, Saia, Inc. has reported record revenue tonnage and shipments for the period.
In its most recent conference call transcript, the company revealed that revenue of $787.6 million increased by 4.3% compared to the same quarter in 2024. The growth was primarily driven by the expansion of newer terminals opened over the past three years, with customer acceptance being a key factor.
However, Saia's President and CEO Fritz Holzgrefe noted that the company experienced significant disruptions due to winter weather in the southern United States. This prompted closures and limited operations at some of its most dense and profitable regions, resulting in substantial impacts to the Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston markets.
The impact of weather on Saia's operating ratio was estimated to be around 25-75 basis points, contributing to a deterioration of 670 basis points compared to the same quarter last year. The company's operating ratio for the quarter came in at 91.1%, down from 84.4% in the first quarter of 2024.
Despite these challenges, Saia remains focused on its pricing and mix optimization initiatives. The company saw wafer shipment trends improve sequentially, with proportionally more growth in its ramping markets - those opened since 2022. While this can be challenging due to their relatively lower profitability compared to legacy markets, Fritz Holzgrefe emphasized the importance of maintaining and improving service levels to provide certainty and reliability for customers.
Contractual renewals averaged 6.1% in the quarter, reflecting customer satisfaction with Saia's high-quality service. However, as the environment has impacted performance, the company is focused on improving service levels while managing controllable costs and productivity.
Fritz Holzgrefe emphasized that Saia will continue to prioritize providing great quality and differentiated service to justify pricing changes as necessary to run its business. The company's focus on execution and leveraging investments in its network over the last several years is expected to drive performance moving forward.
