WS

Worthington Steel, Inc. (WS) Business Model Analysis (2026)

Invetso Score: 5.8/10 — Balanced · Last Updated: 2026-08-01

Overall Score

Revenue Model

Revenue remains tied to a low-margin wholesale distribution model, with TTM gross margin at 11.7% and price-to-sales at 0.56x.

Asset turnover is solid at 1.52x, indicating the business still generates meaningful sales from its asset base.

Profitability

TTM operating margin is 3.1% and net margin is 0.5%, showing profitability remains thin despite positive earnings.

Return on invested capital is only 0.7%, suggesting limited economic returns on capital deployed.

Capital Efficiency

Free cash flow yield is 6.1% and operating cash flow conversion remains acceptable, supporting moderate capital efficiency.

Cash conversion cycle is 51.8 days, reflecting working-capital needs but not a severe liquidity strain.

Balance Sheet

Current ratio is 1.46x and debt-to-equity is 0.33x, indicating a manageable near-term liquidity and leverage profile.

Net debt to EBITDA is 1.22x, which is reasonable for the current scale of the business.

Growth Scalability

The model shows limited scalability because margins remain low even with decent asset turnover.

High valuation multiples such as 108.5x earnings imply the market is pricing in stronger future growth than current fundamentals show.

Sources

  • Company filings (10-K, 10-Q, investor presentations)
  • Financial and market data providers
  • Public news and industry information

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