Contrasting Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) & Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT)

Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) and Pamt (NASDAQ:PAMT) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Saia and Pamt, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saia	0	6	12	0	2.67
Pamt	0	1	0	0	2.00

Saia presently has a consensus price target of $535.12, indicating a potential upside of 30.38%. Pamt has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 30.85%. Given Pamt’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Pamt is more favorable than Saia.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.1% of Pamt shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Saia shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.2% of Pamt shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Saia has a beta of 1.79, meaning that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pamt has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Saia and Pamt’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saia	11.28%	16.63%	12.10%
Pamt	-4.45%	-2.58%	-1.07%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Saia and Pamt”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saia	$3.21 billion	3.40	$362.07 million	$13.51	30.38
Pamt	$714.65 million	0.38	-$31.80 million	($1.46)	-8.64

Saia has higher revenue and earnings than Pamt. Pamt is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Saia, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Saia beats Pamt on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Saia

Saia, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a transportation company in North America. The company provides less-than-truckload services for shipments between 100 and 10,000 pounds; and other value-added services, including non-asset truckload, expedited, and logistics services. It also offers other value-added services, including non-asset truckload, expedited, and logistics services. As of December 31, 2022, it operated 191 owned and leased facilities; and owned approximately 6,200 tractors and 20,800 trailers. The company operates 194 terminals. The company was formerly known as SCS Transportation, Inc. and changed its name to Saia, Inc. in July 2006. Saia, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Johns Creek, Georgia.

About Pamt

PAMT Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of truckload and logistics services through its subsidiaries. Its freight consists primarily of automotive parts, expedited goods, consumer goods, such as general retail store merchandise, and manufactured goods, such as heating and air conditioning units. The company was founded in June 1986 and is headquartered in Tontitown, AR.