Saia’s tonnage growth accelerates in May on easier comp

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Todd Maiden

Tue, June 2, 2026 astatine 12:24 PM CDT 2 min read

Saia reported a pickup successful year-over-year tonnage maturation successful its May update issued Tuesday, though the betterment was measured against a softer prior-year result.

The Johns Creek, Georgia-based less-than-truckload bearer reported May tonnage maturation of 8.4% y/y arsenic shipments grew 3.7% and value per shipment accrued 4.5%. That compared to last results for April, showing a 6.9% tonnage summation arsenic shipments and value per shipment were up 5.6% and 1.3%, respectively. (April was up against a prior-year comp that was 480 ground points higher than May’s.)

Two-year-stacked comps amusement Saia’s (NASDAQ: SAIA) tonnage maturation has slowed from a caller precocious of 15% successful March to 8% successful May. However, Saia’s tonnage prior-year comps scope from mostly antagonistic to somewhat affirmative for the remainder of the year.

Higher shipment weights are a motion of an improving LTL market, typically driving gross per shipment and margins higher. Saia’s value per shipment averaged 8% connected a two-year-stacked comp successful some April and May.

Manufacturing information released Monday showed concern enactment was affirmative for a 5th consecutive period successful May. The Purchasing Managers’ Index registered a 54 speechmaking for the month, which was 130 bps higher than April. (A speechmaking supra 50 signals enlargement portion 1 beneath 50 indicates contraction.) The May speechmaking was the highest for the dataset successful 4 years.

The caller orders subindex—an indicator of aboriginal activity—came successful astatine 56.8, 270 bps higher sequentially. (Inflections successful PMI information usually pb LTL volumes by a fewer months.)

Saia doesn’t supply immoderate revenue-based metrics successful its intra-quarter updates. It antecedently disclosed that contractual renewals averaged 6.7% successful the archetypal 4th (up 12.8% connected a two-year-stacked comp).

The institution antecedently guided to 400 to 450 bps of sequential operating borderline betterment successful the 2nd quarter. (Its borderline usually improves 250 to 300 bps from the archetypal to the 2nd quarter.) Higher tonnage and the weaker first-quarter operating effect formed the outlook.

The usher implies an 87.5% operating ratio (inverse of operating margin) astatine the midpoint of the range, which would people a y/y betterment for the archetypal clip successful implicit 2 years. Saia’s monolithic terminal enlargement has been a resistance connected results. However, borderline unit is easing arsenic the carrier’s astir 40 caller locations operated profitably during the archetypal quarter.

Shares of SAIA were disconnected 1.3% astatine 12:29 p.m. EDT connected Tuesday compared to the S&P 500, which was up 0.1%.

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