Evercore sees Saia risk skewed to upside, upgrades to Outperform

As previously reported, Evercore ISI analyst Jonathan Chappell upgraded Saia to Outperform from In Line with a price target of $360, up from $298. The firm is making “large cuts” to Q2 and second half EPS estimates across the surface transportation sector and argues that the absence of a May bottom in TL pricing and LTL tonnage, coupled with intermodal pricing and loads that “remain under extreme duress along with brokerage spreads,” is likely to result in “vast misses” and lowers through this next earnings season. However, in “those rare cases where results may actually hold in (beat?!),” and a long-term story is improving, the risk appears skewed to the upside, as the firm contends is the case with Saia.