Madison Small Cap Fund Sold Saia (SAIA) Due to Macro Economic Challenges

Madison Investments, an investment advisor, released its “Madison Small Cap Fund” third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The third quarter was difficult for the Small Cap Fund.  The small-cap index’s performance was broad-based. The Madison Small Cap Fund (class Y) was down 1.3% in the quarter, significantly underperforming the benchmarks. The underperformance was driven by stock selection and exacerbated by a very speculative market. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, Madison Small Cap Fund 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 -13.67%, and its shares lost 53.76% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On November 20, 2025, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) stock closed at $250.48 per share, with a market capitalization of $6.673 billion.

Madison Small Cap Fund stated the following regarding Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Small cap exited Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) this quarter. The company has faced a challenging macroeconomic environment for LTL (less-than-truckload) pricing and experienced some operational hiccups as it expanded into new geographies. We would certainly revisit the investment as operating rates can inflect higher in a better environment, which would drive strong earnings leverage. We believe the moat around this business is excellent; we think the company is well-run, with a maniacal focus on customer service.”

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

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 41 hedge fund portfolios held Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) at the end of the second quarter, which was 35 in the previous quarter. In the third quarter of 2025, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) announced revenue of $839.6 million, which was relatively flat compared to Q3 2024. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we covered Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) and shared TimesSquare Capital U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy’s views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 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.