Saia Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Saia Inc had return on equity of 10.4%, an operating margin of 10.9%, debt equal to 6.4% of equity and a current ratio of 1.64. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Saia Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Operating margin	6.3%	6.7%	8.5%	8.5%	9.9%	14.6%	16.9%	16.0%	15.0%	10.9%	10.7%
Net margin	3.8%	6.5%	6.3%	6.4%	7.6%	11.1%	12.8%	12.3%	11.3%	7.9%	8.0%
Free-cash-flow margin	2.2%	−2.1%	2.0%	−0.8%	4.3%	4.2%	3.8%	4.8%	−14.3%	0.8%	7.9%
Return on equity	9.9%	17.1%	16.4%	15.1%	15.6%	23.2%	25.5%	20.2%	17.0%	10.4%	10.5%
Return on assets	6.0%	10.3%	10.0%	8.9%	9.3%	14.9%	17.8%	14.9%	12.6%	7.7%	7.7%
Asset turnover	1.56	1.59	1.57	1.40	1.23	1.35	1.39	1.21	1.12	0.97	0.96
Current ratio	1.15	1.22	1.02	0.96	0.99	1.30	1.94	2.01	1.57	1.64	1.83
Debt to equity	15.3%	22.8%	17.7%	16.7%	7.4%	4.1%	2.0%	0.8%	8.7%	6.4%	3.5%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	18.0x	18.8x	26.1x	22.8x	34.8x	104.3x	180.2x	181.7x	54.0x	21.4x	39.5x
Effective tax rate	35.9%	−1.5%	22.7%	22.5%	21.5%	23.9%	23.6%	23.9%	23.9%	24.4%	24.2%
Capital spending as % of revenue	9.5%	13.3%	13.5%	16.1%	12.7%	12.5%	13.2%	15.3%	32.5%	17.6%	9.6%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	56.3%	−31.7%	31.2%	−13.0%	56.4%	38.2%	29.5%	38.9%	−127.0%	10.7%	98.5%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Saia Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Operating margin	12.9%	8.9%	12.2%	14.1%	8.1%	8.3%	13.1%	12.4%
Net margin	9.6%	6.3%	8.7%	10.3%	6.0%	6.2%	9.9%	9.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	−0.4%	−11.9%	−0.5%	10.4%	4.7%	9.1%	5.9%	11.3%
Current ratio	1.57	1.43	1.49	1.68	1.64	1.52	1.58	1.83
Debt to equity	8.4%	12.3%	12.6%	8.6%	6.3%	4.3%	3.7%	3.5%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

5 of 6 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $3.9bn

Short-term assets $709mLonger-term assets $3.1bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $3.2bn

Short-term liabilities $387mShareholders' equity $2.8bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $709m of assets due within a year against $387m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
More cash than debt $203m of cash against $100m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 4% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 2% to 4% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $618m of operating cash flow against $100m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $378m against $10m of interest.

From Saia Inc's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

60 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Saia's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 16 / 20

Net income has been a median 10.0% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 13 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 12.1%; its worst year was 8.1%.
Cash conversion 8 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 6 of 9 years, at a median 1.9% of revenue.
Discipline 12 / 20

The diluted share count rose 0.4% over five years.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from Saia Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Saia Inc.