Heartland Express (NASDAQ: HTLD) and Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitabiliy, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Heartland Express and Saia, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Heartland Express | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1.92 |
| Saia | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.67 |
Heartland Express presently has a consensus target price of $15.11, indicating a potential downside of 28.49%. Saia has a consensus target price of $52.60, indicating a potential downside of 1.59%. Given Saia’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Saia is more favorable than Heartland Express.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
60.0% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.4% of Saia shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.1% of Heartland Express shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Saia shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Volatility & Risk
Heartland Express has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saia has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Heartland Express and Saia’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Heartland Express | $548.88 million | 3.21 | $165.62 million | $0.66 | 32.02 |
| Saia | $1.29 billion | 1.05 | $168.48 million | $2.06 | 25.95 |
Saia has higher revenue and earnings than Heartland Express. Saia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Heartland Express, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Heartland Express and Saia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Heartland Express | 9.89% | 10.60% | 7.28% |
| Saia | 4.12% | 10.84% | 6.12% |
Dividends
Heartland Express pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Saia does not pay a dividend. Heartland Express pays out 12.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Summary
Saia beats Heartland Express on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Heartland Express
Heartland Express, Inc. is a holding company. The Company is a short-to-medium haul truckload carrier. The Company focuses primarily on short- to medium-haul, asset-based dry van truckload services in regional markets near its terminals. The Company’s truckload services are primarily asset-based transportation services in the dry van truckload market, and it also offers truckload temperature-controlled transportation services and non-asset based brokerage services. All tractors are equipped with mobile communication systems. Its primary customers include retailers and manufacturers. It provides nationwide asset-based dry van truckload service for shippers from Washington to Florida and New England to California. The Company provides truckload services across the United States and parts of Canada. As of December 31, 2016, it had operated 20 terminal facilities throughout the contiguous United States in addition to its terminal and corporate headquarters in North Liberty, Iowa.
About Saia
Saia, Inc. is a transportation company. The Company provides regional and interregional less-than-truckload (LTL) services. The Company also offers a range of other value-added services, including non-asset truckload, expedited and logistics services across the United States. The Company’s subsidiary Saia Motor Freight Line, LLC (Saia LTL Freight) is a LTL carrier. As of December 31, 2016, Saia LTL Freight had served 34 states in the South, Southwest, Midwest, Pacific Northwest and West. Saia LTL Freight specializes in offering its customers a range of regional and interregional LTL services, including time-definite and expedited options. As of December 31, 2016, Saia LTL Freight operated a network consisting of 151 owned and leased locations. The Company’s other subsidiaries include Saia TL Plus, LLC, Saia Logistics Services, LLC, Saia Sales, LLC, Saia Metrogo, LLC, LinkEx, Inc. and Saia Motor Freight Mexico, S. DE R.L. DE C.V.
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