Analyzing Worthington Steel (WS) & Its Competitors

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

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 competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Worthington Steel and its competitors’ 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%	-9.09%	-2.06%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Worthington Steel and its competitors, as provided 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	6297	22402	31962	1763	2.47

Worthington Steel currently has a consensus price target of $46.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.19%. As a group, “Metals & Mining” companies have a potential upside of 10.28%. Given Worthington Steel’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Worthington Steel is more favorable than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Worthington Steel and its competitors 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	$5.03 billion	$277.89 million	-25.66

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

Insider and Institutional 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, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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 competitors 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 competitors on 9 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.