Is Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) a good investment?
If you were to ask many investors, hedge funds are viewed as overrated, outdated financial tools of a forgotten age. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds with their doors open currently, this site looks at the top tier of this group, about 525 funds. Analysts calculate that this group has its hands on the majority of all hedge funds’ total assets, and by monitoring their highest performing picks, we’ve formulated a number of investment strategies that have historically outstripped the S&P 500. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points annually for a decade in our back tests, and since we’ve started sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outclassed the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (see all of our picks from August).
Just as crucial, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are plenty of reasons for a bullish insider to drop shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to analyze the recent info about Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA).
How are hedge funds trading Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA)?
At the end of the second quarter, a total of 16 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 14% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.
Out of the hedge funds we follow, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management had the biggest position in Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA), worth close to $14.1 million, accounting for 0.1% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Diamond Hill Capital, managed by Ric Dillon, which held a $13.3 million position; the fund has 0.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Consequently, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. AQR Capital Management, managed by Cliff Asness, established the biggest position in Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA). AQR Capital Management had 14.1 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital also made a $13.3 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new SAIA investors: Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies, John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
How have insiders been trading Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA)?
Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the latest 180-day time period, Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA). These stocks are Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD), Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN), Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI), Universal Truckload Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:UACL), and Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO). This group of stocks belong to the trucking industry and their market caps match SAIA’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Heartland Express, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLD) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Marten Transport, Ltd (NASDAQ:MRTN) | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Celadon Group, Inc. (NYSE:CGI) | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Universal Truckload Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:UACL) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECHO) | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results explained by our studies, average investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Saia Inc (NASDAQ:SAIA) is an important part of this process.
