• Saia (NasdaqGS:SAIA) completed its first full year operating as a national network, reaching record revenue and market share.
• The company reported these results despite softer freight volumes and higher insurance costs tied to prior accidents.
• Safety metrics improved, with meaningful reductions in preventable accidents and lost time injuries across the network.

Saia operates in the less than truckload segment, where carriers move smaller freight shipments for a wide mix of customers. A full national footprint is a significant step for a company in this space because it can influence service coverage, pricing power, and customer relationships. At the same time, softer freight volumes and higher insurance costs highlight that operating conditions remain challenging for many carriers.

For you as an investor, the combination of record revenue, market share gains, and better safety metrics provides additional datapoints to watch as Saia scales its national platform. The way the company manages risk, controls costs such as insurance, and uses its broader network to support returns on past investments may shape how you assess NasdaqGS:SAIA over the longer term.

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For Saia, completing its first full year as a national network with record revenue and higher market share, while Q4 and full year profit softened, underlines the trade off you often see when a freight operator scales quickly. The business is now competing more directly with larger less than truckload carriers such as Old Dominion Freight Line, XPO and FedEx Freight, with a much broader terminal footprint but also a higher cost base and a weaker operating ratio of 91.9% in Q4 2025. The 21% reduction in preventable accidents and 10% decline in lost time injuries suggest that recent capital and training spend is starting to show up in safety outcomes, which can be important for insurance costs and service reliability over time.

How This Fits Into The Saia Narrative

• The completion of the national network, record quarterly revenue and market share gains tie directly to the narrative that network expansion and logistics technology can support higher volumes and long term margin potential once newer terminals scale up.
• The weaker earnings per share, higher operating ratio and pressure from self insurance costs highlight the risk in the narrative that rapid expansion and rising operating expenses can weigh on margins when demand is soft.
• The clear improvement in safety metrics and the plan to moderate capital expenditure in 2026 provide fresh context that is only partly captured in the narrative focus on higher claims costs and heavy investment.

Knowing what a company is worth starts with understanding its story. Check out one of the top narratives in the Simply Wall St Community for Saia to help decide what it's worth to you.

The Risks and Rewards Investors Should Consider

• ⚠️ Profitability has come under pressure, with Q4 2025 net income of US$47.5m falling from US$76.1m a year earlier and the operating ratio at 91.9%, which may limit flexibility if freight activity stays soft.
• ⚠️ The national build out and prior accidents brought higher self insurance costs and a more complex network, so execution missteps at newer terminals or further claims volatility could hold back margin improvement.
• 🎁 Record quarterly revenue of about US$790m, steady full year sales of US$3.23b and evidence of market share gains indicate that the national platform is resonating with customers even as volumes have softened.
• 🎁 A 21% reduction in preventable accidents and a 10% decline in lost time injuries point to operational discipline that could support service quality, pricing discussions and potentially lower risk related costs over time.

What To Watch Going Forward

From here, you may want to track whether Saia can translate its larger national footprint and record revenue into better margins as newer terminals mature and self insurance costs linked to prior accidents roll off. Keep an eye on trends in tonnage per workday, revenue per hundredweight and the operating ratio, alongside any further changes to capital expenditure plans. It can also be useful to compare Saia's progress with peers such as Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO to see how its market share and profitability stack up in the less than truckload space.

To ensure you're always in the loop on how the latest news impacts the investment narrative for Saia, head to the community page for Saia to never miss an update on the top community narratives.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.