Less-than-truckload carrier Saia beat fourth-quarter expectations Monday before the market opened. Earnings per share of $2.84 was 7 cents higher than the consensus estimate but 49 cents lower year over year.

Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) reported a 5% y/y increase in revenue to $789 million. Revenue per workday was 3.3% higher in the quarter as tonnage per day increased 8.3% and revenue per hundredweight, or yield, fell 5.4% (down 2.3% excluding fuel surcharges). However, a 3.7% increase in weight per shipment dragged the yield metric lower.

The company reported an 87.1% operating ratio (operating expenses expressed as a percentage of revenue), which was 210 basis points worse y/y and 200 bps worse than the third quarter. The company normally sees 250 bps of OR drag from the third to the fourth quarter.

The sequential margin outperformance (compared to the historical trend) occurred even as the company incurred the cost headwinds from opening new terminals. It opened 21 terminals in 2024 and relocated an additional nine facilities.

Debt incurred from funding the terminal purchases resulted in a $5.1 million y/y swing from interest income to interest expense, or a 15-cent drag on EPS.

Shares of SAIA were up 3.9% in early trading on Monday.

Saia will host a conference call at 10 a.m. EST on Monday to discuss fourth-quarter results.

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