Is Saia (SAIA) Benefitting from Structured Margin Expansion?

Polen Capital, an investment management company, released its “Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy” first-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The initial market optimism after the Presidential election gave way to fear and uncertainty in the first quarter of 2025. Against this backdrop, the fund returned -12.38% gross, and -12.65% net of fees compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Index return of -10.80%. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to find out its best picks for 2025.

In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy highlighted stocks such as Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA). Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is a North America-based transportation company. The one-month return of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) was -13.53%, and its shares lost 43.59% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On June 6, 2025, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) stock closed at $251.43 per share, with a market capitalization of $6.697 billion.

Polen US SMID Company Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“During the quarter, we added five new positions in Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA), Construction Partners, Comfort Systems USA, Wingstop, and Manhattan Associates. We also added to several existing positions.

SAIA is a leader in the less-than-truckload (LTL) freight market, characterized by reduced cyclicality, high barriers to entry, and scale advantages. Saia has capitalized on each of these characteristics through significant investments over the past decade. With its national scale now solidified and capital expenditures slowing, we believe Saia is well-positioned to benefit from structural margin expansion. Our thesis is anchored in Saia’s ability to deliver over 20% EPS growth as the transport market recovers, driven by pricing gains, margin improvement, and improving returns on invested capital.”

Is Saia, Inc. (SAIA) the Best Freight Stock to Buy According to Hedge Funds?

A long line of trucks transporting goods across the open road, symbolizing the long-distance transportation services of the company.

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 35 hedge fund portfolios held Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) at the end of the first quarter, compared to 31 in the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2025, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) announced revenue of $787.6 million, marking a 4.3% increase compared to the same quarter last year. While we acknowledge the potential of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) and shared Artisan Mid Cap Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.