Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 9, 2026
Metallus Inc. (MTUS)
A forensic read on Metallus Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
2.8
Distress distance
3
Forensic signals
-0.2%
ROE
6.9%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Metallus Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
0.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 0.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 10.8%. After-tax operating profit was $71M in FY2023 and $2M in FY2025. The capital base behind it cannot be compared across FY2023–FY2025: short-term debt and long-term debt are tagged in one of those two fiscal years and not the other, and an untagged line enters this calculation as zero, so any change in the base would be a change in what the filer tagged. $138M of the $634M base at FY2025 is construction in progress (21.7%) — paid for, not yet in service, and so in the denominator of this return while it cannot be in the profit above it. FY2025's operating profit carried a $3M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.3 points off that year's return, so about 0.3 of the 10.4-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less.
FCF ($93M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $13M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($93M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $16M — 82% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $106M past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. The balance sheet's own liquid holdings covered part of it: cash fell $84M over FY2025 — $84M of the $106M; total debt is not on file on the same basis at both year ends, so whether new borrowing also covered part of it cannot be read. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $2M from sales of property and equipment; net cash used in investing activities of $75M; net cash used in financing activities of $25M.
+15.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +15.1% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +39% against revenue +7% and PP&E up +11% against revenue +7%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 3% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 15.1%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.16B
Revenue Growth YoY+6.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-7.8%
Net Margin-0.1%
Free Cash Flow-$93.0M
Return on Equity-0.2%
Debt / Equity0.01x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Metallus Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?