Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAIA) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Fritz Holzgrefe: Yes. I think that’s a good insight, Tyler. The gating item around opening facilities, one, if there’s a lease facility, we’re going to make sure that it’s a place that meets the Saia standard in terms of safety and good place for a colleague to come to work every day. So, we’re going to make the needed investments there. We’ll make sure that if it remains to be leased, that it’s got the appropriate sort of term and such. So yes, those would probably move closer to the front of the list. The other element you look at is, in some cases, you have a facility that maybe has got some sort of local zoning requirement that says you’ve got to be active in business to be able to maintain zoning. So those would be next in line.

And then there are also ones that just have a real meaningful market opportunity, which we’ve moved those in line. Now some of the others, all the ones we purchased have significant value to us longer term. Some of them may just simply be an upsize or a lease replacement. The ones that we don’t open this year would be sort of available and we make the important upgrades and put into service at a later time. So that would be how we manage that.

Tyler Brown: Yes. No, that is extremely helpful. But Doug, I want to come back to a prior question, so it takes me a second to get it all straight. But there’s obviously a ton going on with the network, super exciting. But did you say that there’s maybe 8% to 9% door growth from acquired and leased facilities and then another 4% to 5% from expansion, so in aggregate, call it, 12% to 14% on the door side, net in ’24?

Doug Col: If we ended up opening all of 20, for example, Tyler, and then we relocate what we’ve got plan to relocate and the expansions, Fritz mentioned, your numbers are right. So if we did everything, that’s what it could be this year.

Tyler Brown: Okay, perfect.

Fritz Holzgrefe: Tyler, you know when we think about network expansion, we don’t think about this year, we’re looking at a 10- or 12-year horizon. So those doors, that’s all about runway.

Tyler Brown: Sure. No, absolutely, get it. Fritz, this is a bit of an esoteric question. So maybe you want to tell me or not. But I think it will help maybe conceptualize the power of the footprint. So, do you have any idea what your interline mix of P&D is today versus, say, five to 10 years ago? Because I assume it’s way down, but it still likely has an opportunity to go to virtually zero which I would assume internalizes margin and it gives you control over service.

Fritz Holzgrefe: Tyler, you broke up just a little bit at the beginning. I want to make sure I got this right. You were referring to — you said interline?

Tyler Brown: Yeah. Sorry about that. What was the — what is your interline mix of P&D today versus five to 10 years ago? Because I assume it’s way down but there’s still an opportunity to go to zero, and that just gives you control over your service.

Fritz Holzgrefe: Yes. Great. I don’t have the number, Tyler, but you’re right. That’s a tremendous opportunity for us, right, in terms of — certainly, there’s the cost element in building the density around that network. But from a customer perspective, that customer experience is so critical in those markets, absolutely, that will be a positive.

Tyler Brown: And along with that, I mean, not splitting the revenue, right?

Fritz Holzgrefe: Yes.

Tyler Brown: Exactly. Yeah. Okay, cool. Thank you, guys.

Fritz Holzgrefe: Okay. See you, Tyler.

Operator: I will now turn the call back over to Fritz Holzgrefe for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Fritz Holzgrefe: Yeah. Thank you for taking the time to join us to talk about the compelling opportunities for Saia. We’re excited to start the 100th year of our company with a really, really exciting investment opportunity, growth opportunity, and we look forward to talking about those success at the end of the next quarter. Thank you.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect your lines.

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