Worthington Steel is a value-priced steel processor with a Piotroski score of 7/9 and moderate peer ranking, but the business quality is below the minimum floor at 3.2, earnings have been mixed with 2 recent misses, and heavy automotive customer concentration leaves the company exposed to cyclical demand risk.
Thesis pillars
- Automotive Customer Concentration↓Deteriorating
- Target Exceeded Negative Asymmetry↓Deteriorating
- Quality Floor Failure↓Deteriorating
- +1 more pillar — see the Why tab for full reasoning
Worthington Steel, Inc. (WS) Stock Analysis
Inst Constrain edge
Basic Materials · Steel
Sell if holding. Engine safety override at $33.90: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.0/10 and A.R:R 1.7:1 is above the 1.5:1 BUY gate. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 6.50; Below-average business quality; Negative price momentum.
Worthington Steel is a value-added processor of carbon flat-rolled steel, electrical steel laminations, and laser-welded tailor welded products for automotive, construction, and industrial customers, operating 28 manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Canada, China, India,... Read more
Sell if holding. Engine safety override at $33.90: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.0/10 and A.R:R 1.7:1 is above the 1.5:1 BUY gate. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 6.50; Below-average business quality; Negative price momentum. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Score 5.0/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 5/7 gates (favorable risk/reward ratio, clean insider activity, no SEC red flags, earnings proximity 23d clear, semi cycle peak clear). Fails on weak momentum and materials cycle peak fwd=7.0x,ratio=0.03x. Suitability: aggressive.
About Worthington Steel, Inc.
About Worthington Steel, Inc.
Worthington Steel processes carbon flat-rolled steel into precision products, purchasing approximately 2.44 million tons of steel in fiscal 2025 (70% hot-rolled, 20% cold-rolled, 10% galvanized) and running it through 28 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. (19), Canada (2), China, India, Germany, and Mexico (4). Automotive-related customers account for approximately 52% of net sales, and the company's top three customers represented about 33% of total net sales in fiscal 2025.
Revenue comes from both direct-sale steel processing — pickling, re-rolling, hot-dip galvanizing, blanking, slitting, and cutting-to-length performed to customer specification — and toll processing, where the customer retains title to the steel and pays Worthington Steel a service fee without the company carrying inventory risk. Electrical Steel Laminations, made for automotive (including electric vehicles), industrial motor, generator, and transformer customers, and Tailor Welded Products, laser- and friction-stir-welded blanks that reduce vehicle weight for automotive assemblers, supplement the core carbon flat-rolled business. Worthington Steel buys steel from major domestic and foreign mills including Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor, Steel Dynamics, and United States Steel, and operates joint ventures — Spartan (52%-owned, automotive coating), TWB (55%-owned, tailor welded blanks), and the unconsolidated Serviacero Worthington (50%-owned, Mexico) — that extend its processing footprint. On June 3, 2025, the company acquired a 52% controlling stake in Italy-based Sitem Group, adding processing locations in Italy, France, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Show full overview
Steel-tariff policy is a swing factor for Worthington Steel: Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, doubled to 50% effective June 4, 2025, currently discourage import competition and support domestic pricing, but the 10-K notes that if these measures are later relaxed or repealed, a resurgence of foreign steel imports could pressure U.S. metal prices. That tariff exposure compounds a customer-side risk tied to the Detroit Three automakers, whose production idling or a future UAW work stoppage could reduce demand given that automotive-related customers account for roughly 52% of net sales — a dependency the 10-K flags separately from the tariff discussion.
See also: Basic Materials · Steel
From Worthington Steel, Inc.'s most recent 10-K filing, extracted August 23, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-09-13Recent Developments — Worthington Steel, Inc.
Latest news
- NEWS Worthington Steel Signs Domination And Profit & Loss Transfer Agreement With Kloeckner Via Subsidiary Worthington Steel — benzinga Sep 8, 2026 positive
- NEWS Kloeckner Announces It's Unable To Recommend Either Acceptance Or Rejection Of Worthington Steel's Delisting Takeover Of — benzinga Jul 22, 2026 negative
- NEWS Worthington Steel Announces Opening Of Acceptance Period For Public Delisting Tender Offer For All Kloeckner Shares It D — benzinga Jul 15, 2026 negative
- NEWS Worthington Steel Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript — benzinga Jun 25, 2026 neutral
- NEWS Worthington Steel Q4 Adj. EPS $0.74 Beats $0.73 Estimate, Sales $929.200M Miss $992.000M Estimate — benzinga Jun 24, 2026 negative
Generated 2026-09-13T22:51:55Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- HIGHProductautomotive52%10-K Item 1A: 'The automotive and construction industries account for approximately 52.0% and 11.0%, respectfully, of our net sales'
- MEDIUMCustomertop three customers33%10-K Item 1: 'During fiscal 2025, our top three customers represented approximately 33.0% of total net sales.'
- LOWProductconstruction11%10-K Item 1A: 'The automotive and construction industries account for approximately 52.0% and 11.0%, respectfully, of our net sales'
- MEDIUMCustomerDetroit Three automakers10-K Item 1A: 'Although we do sell to the domestic operations of foreign automakers and their suppliers, a significant portion of our automotive sales are to the Detroit Three automakers and their suppliers.'
- HIGHCommodityhot-rolled steel70%10-K Item 1: 'During fiscal 2025, we purchased approximately 2.44 million tons of steel (70% hot-rolled, 20% cold-rolled and 10% galvanized).'
- MEDIUMSupplierzinc10-K Item 1A: 'For certain raw materials, such as, zinc, there are limited suppliers and our purchases are generally at market prices.'
Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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Rating Breakdown
3 floor-breakers
Price action weak — below key moving averages, no momentum carry. Needs a base before trend-continuation setups apply.static
Ranks in the bottom of its industry peers on the composite signal. Better names in the same sector exist.static
Quality below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Sell if holding. Engine safety override at $33.90: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.0/10 and A.R:R 1.7:1 is above the 1.5:1 BUY gate. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 6.50; Below-average business quality; Negative price momentum. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Prior stop was $32.28. Score 5.0/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $39.10 (+15.3% upside). Prior stop was $32.28. Stop-loss: $32.28.
Commodity cycle peak: fwd P/E 7.0× (below 12) + fwd/trail 0.03× (below 0.55). EPS just expanded off a commodity-price surge — forward estimate may be built on stale spot, mean-reversion risk unpriced.; Concentration risk — Product: automotive (52.0%); Concentration risk — Commodity: hot-rolled steel (70.0%).
Worthington Steel, Inc. trades at a P/E of 199.4 (forward 7.0). TrendMatrix value score: 8.1/10. Verdict: Sell.
10 analysts cover WS with a consensus score of 4.1/5. Average price target: $46.
What does Worthington Steel, Inc. do?Worthington Steel is a value-added processor of carbon flat-rolled steel, electrical steel laminations, and...
Worthington Steel is a value-added processor of carbon flat-rolled steel, electrical steel laminations, and laser-welded tailor welded products for automotive, construction, and industrial customers, operating 28 manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Canada, China, India, Germany, and Mexico. The company purchased approximately 2.44 million tons of steel in fiscal 2025 (70% hot-rolled), with automotive representing 52% of net sales and its top three customers accounting for approximately 33%.