Critical Comparison: Metallus (NYSE:MTUS) & United States Steel (NYSE:X)

Metallus (NYSE:MTUS) and United States Steel (NYSE:X) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.6% of Metallus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of United States Steel shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Metallus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of United States Steel shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Metallus and United States Steel’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Metallus	$1.36 billion	0.70	$69.40 million	$1.46	14.80
United States Steel	$18.05 billion	0.51	$895.00 million	$3.51	11.77

United States Steel has higher revenue and earnings than Metallus. United States Steel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Metallus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Metallus and United States Steel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Metallus	5.09%	12.54%	7.79%
United States Steel	4.96%	10.80%	5.82%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Metallus and United States Steel, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Metallus	0	0	0	0	N/A
United States Steel	0	8	1	0	2.11

United States Steel has a consensus price target of $37.89, suggesting a potential downside of 8.33%. Given United States Steel’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United States Steel is more favorable than Metallus.

Volatility and Risk

Metallus has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United States Steel has a beta of 2, suggesting that its stock price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United States Steel beats Metallus on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Metallus

Metallus Inc. manufactures and sells alloy steel, and carbon and micro-alloy steel products in the United States and internationally. The company offers special bar quality (SBQ) bars, seamless mechanical tubes, precision steel components, and billets that are used in gears, hubs, axles, crankshafts and motor shafts, oil country drill pipes, bits and collars, bearing races and rolling elements, bushings, fuel injectors, wind energy shafts, anti-friction bearings, artillery and mortar bodies, and other applications. It also provides custom-make precision steel components. It offers its products and services to the automotive, energy, industrial equipment, mining, construction, rail, aerospace and defense, heavy truck, agriculture, and power generation sectors. The company was formerly known as TimkenSteel Corporation and changed its name to Metallus Inc. in February 2024. Metallus Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Canton, Ohio.

About United States Steel

United States Steel Corporation produces and sells flat-rolled and tubular steel products primarily in North America and Europe. The company operates through North American Flat-Rolled (Flat-Rolled), Mini Mill, U. S. Steel Europe (USSE), and Tubular Products (Tubular) segments. The Flat-Rolled segment offers slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products, as well as iron ore and coke. This segment serves customers in the service center, conversion, transportation, automotive, construction, container, appliance, and electrical markets. The Mini Mill segment provides hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated sheets and electrical steel products. This segment serves customers in the automotive, construction, pipe and tube, sheet converter, electrical, solar industrial equipment, and service center markets. The USSE segment provides slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, tin mill products, and spiral welded pipes. This segment serves customers in the construction, container, appliance and electrical, service center, conversion, oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. The Tubular segment offers seamless and electric resistance welded steel casing and tubing products, as well as standard and line pipe and mechanical tubing products primarily to customers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical markets. It also engages in the real estate business. United States Steel Corporation was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.