ARCBEST CORPORATION vs Saia, Inc., two Trucking stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
ArcBest and Saia both haul less-than-truckload freight, but Saia keeps far more of each dollar it books. Saia's 7.84% net margin runs close to six times ArcBest's thin 1.38%, and its 9.71% return on equity more than doubles ArcBest's 4.35%. Oddly, Saia is also the cheaper of the two on earnings, at 45.27 times against ArcBest's 59.85, while carrying the richer book multiple of 4.40 versus 2.54. ArcBest throws off more free cash relative to price, a 4.62% yield against Saia's 1.68%. At $11.6B, Saia is more than three times ArcBest's $3.3B.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | ARCB | SAIA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $147.24 | $420.62 |
| Market cap | $3.3B | $11.3B |
| Sector | Trucking | Trucking |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| P/E | 60.3 | 44.2 |
| P/B | 2.56 | 4.29 |
| P/S | 0.81 | 3.47 |
| EV/EBITDA | 13.2 | 18.9 |
| Revenue growth | -1.5% | +0.4% |
| Operating margin | 0.3% | 8.3% |
| Net margin | 1.4% | 7.8% |
| Return on equity | 4.3% | 9.7% |
| Return on assets | 2.3% | 7.2% |
| Return on invested capital | 4.6% | 9.8% |
| FCF yield | 4.6% | 1.7% |
| Dividend yield | 0.2% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.17 | 0.04 |
| Current ratio | 0.93 | 1.52 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.47 | 7.95 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
Each week boothcheck ranks the stocks whose prices are betting on the most. Read the most stretched bets archive →
boothcheck is also on Android. Get the app on Google Play →
The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.