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 $36.42: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.6/10. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 1.60; Below-average business quality; Below long-term trend.
Worthington Steel is a value-added processor of carbon flat-rolled steel, electrical steel laminations, and tailor welded products, operating 28 manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Canada, China, India, Germany, and Mexico. Automotive-related customers generated... Read more
Sell if holding. Engine safety override at $36.42: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.6/10. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 1.60; Below-average business quality; Below long-term trend. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Score 5.6/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 6/8 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, no SEC red flags, news events none recent, earnings proximity 58d clear, semi cycle peak clear). Fails on favorable risk/reward ratio and materials cycle peak fwd=7.4x,ratio=0.03x. Suitability: aggressive.
About Worthington Steel, Inc.
About Worthington Steel, Inc.
Worthington Steel purchased approximately 2.44 million tons of steel in fiscal 2025 -- 70% hot-rolled, 20% cold-rolled, and 10% galvanized -- processing it across 28 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. (19), Canada (2), Mexico (4), China, India, and Germany. Automotive-related customers accounted for roughly 52% of net sales and construction 11%, while the top three customers together represented about 33% of total net sales in fiscal 2025.
Worthington Steel earns revenue two ways: direct-sale processing, where it buys coils from primary steel producers -- named suppliers include Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor, Steel Dynamics, U.S. Steel, NLMK Indiana, and North Star BlueScope -- and resells value-added product, and toll processing, where customers retain title to the steel and Worthington earns a processing fee without carrying inventory risk. Zinc, used mainly for galvanizing, comes from a more limited supplier base including Glencore, Nexa Resources, and Trafigura. The company also operates through consolidated joint ventures WSCP (63%-owned), Spartan (52%-owned), and TWB (55%-owned), plus the unconsolidated Serviacero Worthington venture in Mexico. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports were doubled to 50% effective June 4, 2025, which the company expects will discourage imports but which could reverse and pressure domestic steel prices if relaxed.
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Worthington Steel's automotive exposure concentrates further than the segment-level 52% figure suggests: a significant portion of those sales flow to the Detroit Three automakers and their suppliers, and none of it is locked in by long-term contracts -- customers buy on an order-by-order basis and can walk away at any time. That combination showed up directly in fiscal 2024, when a UAW strike against the Detroit Three had a measurable, if limited, impact on the business; the 10-K flags that a longer or broader future strike, or a shift by automakers toward aluminum lightweighting and electric-motor architectures that use less steel, could cut into the single largest end market Worthington serves without any contractual buffer to soften the blow.
See also: Basic Materials · Steel
From Worthington Steel, Inc.'s most recent 10-K filing, extracted August 2, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-08-04Recent Developments — Worthington Steel, Inc.
Latest news
- 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
- NEWS Earnings Scheduled For June 24, 2026 (CORRECTED) — benzinga Jun 24, 2026 neutral
Generated 2026-08-04T07:03:28Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- HIGHCustomerautomotive-related customers52%10-K Item 1A: 'Approximately 52% of our net sales are to automotive-related customers.'
- MEDIUMCustomertop three customers33%10-K Item 1: 'During fiscal 2025, our top three customers represented approximately 33.0% of total net sales.'
- MEDIUMCustomerDetroit Three automakers10-K Item 1A: 'a significant portion of our automotive sales are to the Detroit Three automakers and their suppliers'
- MEDIUMSupplierzinc suppliers10-K Item 1: '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
2 floor-breakers·1 ceiling hit
Quality below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
No near-term catalyst priced in. Thesis progression will come from fundamentals grinding, not event reaction.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Sell if holding. Engine safety override at $36.42: a dimension score below its floor triggers a hard block regardless of the otherwise-positive setup — overall score 5.6/10. Specifically: Elevated put/call ratio: 1.60; Below-average business quality; Below long-term trend. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Prior stop was $33.87. Score 5.6/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $39.10 (+7.4% upside). Prior stop was $33.87. Stop-loss: $33.87.
Commodity cycle peak: fwd P/E 7.4× (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 — Customer: automotive-related customers (52.0%); Quality below floor (3.8 < 4.0).
Worthington Steel, Inc. trades at a P/E of 211.8 (forward 7.4). TrendMatrix value score: 9.1/10. 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 tailor...
Worthington Steel is a value-added processor of carbon flat-rolled steel, electrical steel laminations, and tailor welded products, operating 28 manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Canada, China, India, Germany, and Mexico. Automotive-related customers generated approximately 52% of net sales and construction 11% in fiscal 2025, with the top three customers representing about 33% of total net sales.