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Stock Comparison · Structural lead, mixed market

Saia vs Waste Management: Which Stock Looks Stronger in 2026?

Waste Management holds the cleaner structural position, with the lead spread across stability and growth. Saia does not offset that deficit through any equally strong structural edge elsewhere. In the market, Saia carries the stronger setup — intact trend against Waste Management's broken trend. That leaves a split case: the structural lead stays with Waste Management, but the market is not currently confirming it.

The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Both peer scores are relative to the Russell 1000 universe, making them directly comparable.

Updated 2026-05-17

The lead is spread across stability and growth, rather than sitting in one isolated gap. The overall score gap is 16 points in favour of Waste Management, Inc..

Trajectory Similarity
0.69
Moderately similar
Peer-set rank: #16
within Saia, Inc.'s functional peer set

This pair is matched through long-term financial trajectory similarity within the selected peer universe.

The pair shares a valid long-term profile match, but the trajectories are not especially close.

The clearest structural overlap shows up in revenue stability and investment intensity.

Similarity drivers
revenue stabilityinvestment intensity
How to read the score
0.85–1.00 · Very similar0.70–0.84 · Similar0.55–0.69 · Moderately similarbelow 0.55 · Loose match
Peer-Relative Score
SAIA
Saia, Inc.
36
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: Russell 1000
vs
WM
Waste Management, Inc.
52
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: Russell 1000

Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.

The largest gaps do not all point in the same direction.

Dimension spread: SAIA vs WM Profitability 37 30 Stability 33 76 Valuation 41 57 Growth 28 53 SAIA WM
Gap Ranking
#1 Stability +43
#2 Growth +25
#3 Valuation +16
#4 Profitability +7
Price Setup

Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.

Price setup map for SAIA and WM Stronger + cheaper Stronger + richer Weaker + cheaper Weaker + richer SAIAWM Relative valuation Structural strength

Waste Management, Inc. looks stronger both structurally and on relative valuation.

Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.

Entry today — historical context

Where SAIA and WM each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.

BASED ON 5-YEAR HISTORY SAIA Elevated · above norm 0th 50th 100th 6 pct gap WM Elevated · near norm 0th 50th 100th 87th 81st
SAIA (87th percentile) and WM (81st percentile) both sit in the upper portion of their own 5-year ranges. The historical entry context is broadly similar for both. This reflects entry timing, not which company is structurally stronger.

Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.

Relative Position vs Comparable Companies
Stability
Waste Management, Inc. ranks near the top of the group on stability; Saia, Inc. sits in the weaker half.
Growth
On growth, Waste Management, Inc. is positioned higher in the group, while Saia, Inc. is closer to the middle.
Stability — Dominant Gap
SAIA
33
WM
76
Gap+43in favour of WM

The stability gap is very wide, with the stronger side looking materially steadier through time.

What keeps the gap from being one-sided

On the market side, Saia carries the stronger trend while Waste Management's trend has broken — the market setup does not confirm the structural advantage.

What this means for the comparison

The lead is built on both stability and growth, making it broader than a single-dimension result.

Explore full peer positioning in AssetNext

Break down the SAIA vs WM comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.

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Similar stability-and-growth comparisons

Explore how SAIA and WM each compare against other companies in their peer groups.

Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.

How AssetNext Peer Scores Work

AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.

Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.

Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.

Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.