Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 8, 2026

Steel Dynamics Inc (STLD)

A forensic read on Steel Dynamics Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

6.7

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

13.3%

ROE

3.6%

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.

Steel Dynamics Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

9.0%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 9.0% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 20.8%. After-tax operating profit was $2.4B in FY2023 and $1.2B in FY2025, with operating income at 16.8% of revenue in FY2023, 11.1% in FY2024 and 8.1% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +13% across FY2023–FY2025, from $11.6B to $13.1B, while the return fell 11.8 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 20.8% the older base was already earning.

238% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $1.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 238% of free cash flow, but 82% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $69M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 251%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$18.18B

Revenue Growth YoY+3.6%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.7%

Net Margin6.5%

Free Cash Flow$501.5M

Return on Equity13.3%

Debt / Equity0.47x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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