Saia price target lowered to $277 from $480 at Stifel

Stifel analyst J. Bruce Chan lowered the firm’s price target on Saia (SAIA) to $277 from $480 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm notes Saia had a rough Q1 print, with a significant miss on tonnage and operating ratio, which crept past 90% and highlighted the downside of operating leverage in the most aggressively growing network in the peer set. Weight/shipment also increased nearly 8% year-over-year and while often indicative of better density, all else equal, changing mix can also create mismatches in network balance when sudden and not properly anticipated, as Stifel thinks happened here. With no shortage of uncertainty this year, and another potential step down in volumes as soon as next month, management will have to work double time to get the network back in check, the firm argues.