Reliance vs Steel Dynamics
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The short version
- Steel Dynamics is the larger business, with $18.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $14.3B for Reliance.
- Steel Dynamics kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (8.1% operating margin, against 7.1%).
- Reliance turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.5% FCF margin, against 2.8%).
- Steel Dynamics earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (10.0%, against 9.4%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Reliance’s earnings: a P/E of 27.1x against 17.8x for Steel Dynamics.
| Latest fiscal year | RS · FY25 | STLD · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $21.6B | $34.7B |
| Revenue | $14.3B | $18.2B |
| Free cash flow | $503M | $502M |
| Net income | $739M | $1.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 3.3% | 3.6% |
| 5-year growth | 10.2% | 13.6% |
| Share count change | −6.0% | −5.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 13.2% |
| Operating margin | 7.1% | 8.1% |
| Net margin | 5.2% | 6.5% |
| FCF margin | 3.5% | 2.8% |
| Return on capital | 9.4% | 10.0% |
| Return on equity | 10.3% | 13.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.2B | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.9x | 1.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $594M | $1.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 27.1x | 17.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
RS $8.6B
STLD $7.8B
FY17
RS $9.7B
STLD $9.5B
FY18
RS $11.5B
STLD $11.8B
FY19
RS $11.0B
STLD $10.5B
FY20
RS $8.8B
STLD $9.6B
FY21
RS $14.1B
STLD $18.4B
FY22
RS $17.0B
STLD $22.3B
FY23
RS $14.8B
STLD $18.8B
FY24
RS $13.8B
STLD $17.5B
FY25
RS $14.3B
STLD $18.2B
RS
STLD
Operating margin
FY16
RS 6.0%
STLD 9.4%
FY17
RS 6.8%
STLD 11.2%
FY18
RS 8.1%
STLD 14.6%
FY19
RS 9.2%
STLD 9.4%
FY20
RS 6.4%
STLD 8.8%
FY21
RS 13.8%
STLD 23.4%
FY22
RS 14.7%
STLD 22.9%
FY23
RS 11.8%
STLD 16.8%
FY24
RS 8.4%
STLD 11.1%
FY25
RS 7.1%
STLD 8.1%
RS
STLD
Free cash flow
FY16
RS $472M
STLD $655M
FY17
RS $237M
STLD $574M
FY18
RS $425M
STLD $1.2B
FY19
RS $1.1B
STLD $944M
FY20
RS $1.0B
STLD −$211M
FY21
RS $563M
STLD $1.2B
FY22
RS $1.8B
STLD $3.6B
FY23
RS $1.2B
STLD $1.9B
FY24
RS $999M
STLD −$23.5M
FY25
RS $503M
STLD $502M
RS
STLD
Return on capital
FY16
RS 6.4%
STLD 10.7%
FY17
RS 10.8%
STLD 20.8%
FY18
RS 10.9%
STLD 27.7%
FY19
RS 11.6%
STLD 15.1%
FY20
RS 7.0%
STLD 12.5%
FY21
RS 21.7%
STLD 47.8%
FY22
RS 26.2%
STLD 47.1%
FY23
RS 18.0%
STLD 26.3%
FY24
RS 11.3%
STLD 14.5%
FY25
RS 9.4%
STLD 10.0%
RS
STLD
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.