Is SAIA a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Saia, Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how SAIA compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Saia, Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to SAIA based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes SAIA a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

SAIA - Saia, Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $422.67 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Cyclical & Capital-Intensive

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

C+ 60.5 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for cyclical & capital-intensive businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 15%

C- 50.9

5yr Avg ROIC 10.7% 63/100
Operating Margin Trend -0.93 pp/yr 22/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

B- 68.3

5yr Avg ROE 12.3% 71/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 0.1% 64/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 10%

B- 62.2

5yr Revenue CAGR 9.0% 78/100
5yr EPS CAGR 0.1% 21/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

F 13.4

5yr FCF Margin -0.1% 24/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion -0.02x 0/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 25%

A+ 94.8

Net Debt / EBITDA 0.66x 88/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 21.52x 100/100
Altman Z-Score 10.00 100/100

Stability

Weight: 20%

C 53.6

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.64 19/100
Piotroski F-Score 6 67/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

2 of 3 gurus held; 2 trimmed; 1 full exit.

Holders: 2 -1
Avg Δ position: -44.8%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 1

Halvorsen sold -100%
Cooperman decreased -78%
Greenblatt decreased -12%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (15%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (10%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (25%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (20%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.