Financial Analysis: Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE:CP) & Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA)

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE:CP) and Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Saia, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canadian Pacific Kansas City	0	4	12	1	2.82
Saia	1	6	14	0	2.62

Canadian Pacific Kansas City currently has a consensus target price of $112.58, suggesting a potential upside of 19.00%. Saia has a consensus target price of $432.26, suggesting a potential upside of 30.61%. Given Saia’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Saia is more favorable than Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Volatility and Risk

Canadian Pacific Kansas City has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Saia has a beta of 2.09, meaning that its share price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Saia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canadian Pacific Kansas City	24.14%	9.27%	4.96%
Saia	8.01%	10.53%	7.74%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Saia”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Canadian Pacific Kansas City	$16.01 billion	5.14	$2.96 billion	$3.12	30.32
Saia	$3.23 billion	2.73	$255.04 million	$10.55	31.37

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.2% of Canadian Pacific Kansas City shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Canadian Pacific Kansas City shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Saia shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Saia beats Canadian Pacific Kansas City on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Canadian Pacific Kansas City

Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (NYSE: CP), known as CPKC, operates a transcontinental freight railway. Its network connects Canada, the United States and Mexico, providing rail transportation and related logistics services for businesses across North America. CPKC carries a range of goods, including grain and other agricultural products, intermodal freight, automotive shipments, energy products, chemicals, forest products and industrial materials. Its services include rail freight transportation, intermodal shipping and logistics solutions.

About Saia

Saia, Inc. is a transportation company best known for its less-than-truckload (LTL) freight services, which combine shipments from multiple customers in a single truck. Its offerings include regional and interregional freight transportation, expedited and guaranteed services, and logistics solutions. Founded in 1924 in Houma, Louisiana, Saia has grown from a regional carrier into a network serving the contiguous United States. The company is headquartered in Johns Creek, Georgia, and also arranges service to Canada and Mexico through its transportation network and partners.