Saia, Inc. vs ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc., two Trucking stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Roughly twice the net margin favors ZTO Express over Saia, 18.49% against 7.84%, the parcel network's sortation economics running ahead of Saia's LTL terminals. ZTO also posts the higher return on equity, 13.53% against 9.71%, and trades far cheaper, 13.71 times earnings against 45.27 and 1.87 times book against 4.40. ZTO's 5.37% free cash yield tops Saia's 1.68%. The catch is that ZTO trades as an ADR on a Chinese business, carrying currency and governance risk Saia does not. At $18.0B, ZTO is larger than Saia's $11.6B, and Saia holds the lighter balance sheet, 0.04 debt-to-equity against 0.16.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | SAIA | ZTO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $420.62 | $23.82 |
| Market cap | $11.3B | $19.6B |
| Sector | Trucking | Trucking |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | 44.2 | 14.9 |
| P/B | 4.29 | 2.04 |
| P/S | 3.47 | 2.78 |
| EV/EBITDA | 18.9 | 9.9 |
| Revenue growth | +0.4% | +200.0% |
| Gross margin | — | 25.0% |
| Operating margin | 8.3% | 21.3% |
| Net margin | 7.8% | 18.5% |
| Return on equity | 9.7% | 13.5% |
| Return on assets | 7.2% | 10.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 9.8% | 10.6% |
| FCF yield | 1.7% | 4.9% |
| Debt / equity | 0.04 | 0.16 |
| Current ratio | 1.52 | 1.49 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.95 | 5.16 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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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.