Is Saia (SAIA) an Attractively Valued Stock?

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Global Discovery Fund” second quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund’s Investor Class APFDX returned -2.99%, Advisor Class APDDX posted a return of -2.98% and Institutional Class APHDX returned -2.91%, compared to a -2.06% return for the MSCI All Country World Small Mid Index. Negative security selection, which concentrated on the consumer staples and industrials sectors, led the portfolio to underperform in the quarter, this was partially offset by outperformance within information technology, consumer discretionary, and communication services. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.

Artisan Global Discovery Fund highlighted stocks like Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA), in the second quarter 2024 investor letter. Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is a North America-based transportation company. The one-month return of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) was 8.47%, and its shares lost 4.73% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On September 4, 2024, Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) stock closed at $417.31 per share with a market capitalization of $11.066 billion.

Artisan Global Discovery Fund stated the following regarding Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:

"Among our top detractors were Lattice Semiconductor, Melrose and Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA). Saia operates in less-than-truckload shipping, a structurally attractive area of transportation that features several solid franchise characteristics supported by real estate assets and network advantages. Given high expectations heading into its earnings release, a narrow miss largely attributable to macro weakness sent shares falling. However, we feel confident going forward for a number of reasons: industry pricing remains rational; the company continues to grow its terminal count (15–20 additions this year); the bankruptcy of key competitor Yellow in August 2023 has left a void in the market; and its valuation remains attractive, in our view."

A truckload carrier negotiating a challenging terrain, reflecting the company's expertise in short-to-medium haul truckload.

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) is not on our list of 31 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 25 hedge fund portfolios held Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) at the end of the second quarter which was 38 in the previous quarter. Saia, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SAIA) revenue in the second quarter rose by $128.6 million to $823.2 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

In another article, we discussed Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) and shared Artisan Global Discovery Fund's views on the company in the prevous quarter.. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2024 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.