SAIA reports decrease in revenue during second quarter

Saia Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) said second-quarter revenue was $418 million, down $46 million, or 9.9% from last year, according to financial results released on Wednesday.

The less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier also reported the revenue decline was driven by a 9.7% decline in shipment volume compared to the prior year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented disruption and uncertainty for our business and our customers over the last few months,” said Fritz Holzgrefe, Saia president and chief executive officer, during the company’s second quarter earnings call on July 29.

Holzgrefe added, “though the outlook remains uncertain, we have demonstrated our ability to pivot and adapt to this increased volatility.”

Headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek, Georgia, Saia LTL Freight operates 169 terminals across 44 states.

During the second quarter, the company reported:

Net income was $28.5 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same period in 2019
Operating ratio of 91.5 compared to 89
LTL shipments per workday decreased 9.7%
LTL tonnage per workday decreased by 8.9%
LTL revenue per hundredweight decreased 0.6%
LTL revenue per shipment rose 0.3% to $235.08

The company had quarterly earnings of $1.07 per share, compared to earnings of $1.40 per share a year ago. However, the $1.07 per share beat consensus estimates of $0.89 per share for the quarter.

“Driven by our actions around COVID-19, including furloughs, these cost savings were somewhat offset by our 2019 July wage increase of approximately 3.5% and the employee growth related to the nine terminals we’ve added since the beginning of the second quarter last year,” said Douglas Col, Saia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

In April, Saia “temporarily re-aligned some sales functions, which included a furloughing of a small number of sales personnel,” according to Holzgrefe.

“As volumes improved through the quarter we were able to begin returning furloughed staff back to full-time hours and we were also able to award a special one-time bonus of $250 per employee to those employees who worked through the difficult conditions created by the pandemic,” Holzgrefe said.