Worthington Steel (WS) and Its Peers Financial Comparison

Worthington Steel (NYSE:WS) is one of 1,987 public companies in the “Metals & Mining” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Worthington Steel to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

45.4% of Worthington Steel shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.0% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Worthington Steel shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.7% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Worthington Steel and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Worthington Steel	0	1	1	1	3.00
Worthington Steel Competitors	6300	22405	31964	1765	2.47

Worthington Steel currently has a consensus target price of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.19%. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 10.30%. Given Worthington Steel’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Worthington Steel is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Worthington Steel and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Worthington Steel	0.50%	8.87%	4.89%
Worthington Steel Competitors	-1,161,736,352,322,426,800.00%	-9.08%	-2.06%

Dividends

Worthington Steel pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Worthington Steel pays out 46.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.0% and pay out 10.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Worthington Steel lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Worthington Steel and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Worthington Steel	$3.44 billion	$8.50 million	24.48
Worthington Steel Competitors	$4.63 billion	$277.23 million	-25.70

Worthington Steel’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Worthington Steel. Worthington Steel is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

Worthington Steel has a beta of 2.27, meaning that its stock price is 127% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Worthington Steel’s peers have a beta of 1.02, meaning that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Worthington Steel beats its peers on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Worthington Steel

Worthington Steel, Inc. operates as a steel processor in North America. It offers carbon flat-rolled steel and tailor welded blanks, as well as electrical steel laminations; and aluminum tailor welded blanks. The company serves various end-markets, including automotive, heavy truck, agriculture, construction, and energy. Worthington Steel, Inc. was incorporated in 2023 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.