Financial Contrast: Worthington Steel (WS) vs. Its Peers

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

Dividends

Worthington Steel pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. 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 9.3% 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.

Risk & Volatility

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

45.4% of Worthington Steel shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.0% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Worthington Steel shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.7% of shares of all “Metals & Mining” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Worthington Steel and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Worthington Steel	0	2	1	0	2.33
Worthington Steel Competitors	6321	22448	32078	1767	2.47

Worthington Steel currently has a consensus target price of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.92%. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 14.16%. Given Worthington Steel’s higher possible upside, research 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	-1,161,736,352,322,426,600.00%	-10.90%	-2.11%

Valuation & Earnings

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	26.07
Worthington Steel Competitors	$4.63 billion	$277.89 million	-29.04

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.

Summary

Worthington Steel peers beat Worthington Steel on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Worthington Steel Company Profile

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.