Steel Dynamics (STLD.NAS) was pitched by Peter Rutter of Life Cycle Investment Partners at the 2025 Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference. Steel Dynamics is one of the largest domestic steel producers and metals recyclers in the United States, based on estimated annual steelmaking and metals recycling capability, with facilities located throughout the United States, and in Mexico. The stock up 50% since purchased for HM1’s Conference Portfolio in November.
Peter’s conference pitch highlighted three key potential value drivers:
- The new Sinton, Texas mill was loss-making through our analysis, owing to solvable operational issues that had driven elevated costs and utilisation well below the rest of the network
- Significant capital had been invested in a new aluminium flat-rolled facility, at the time a loss-making start up
- The steel cycle was likely approaching a trough, with flat-rolled pricing at its second-half 2025 lows.
There have been material improvements to each of these but the most significant was the operational turnaround at its Sinton, Texas flat roll mill, which had been a persistent drag on earnings through 2025. By Q4 2025, management confirmed that the quality and coating issues that had weighed on the facility were resolved, with the mill demonstrating it had the capability now, to operate like all other mills. Sinton contributed meaningfully to record group steel shipments of 3.7 million tons in Q2 2026.
The greenfield aluminium facility, a project which the market had viewed with scepticism given its scale and startup losses, ramped up faster than anticipated. The facility turned EBITDA positive in December 2025, and shipments rose from 14,600 metric tons in Q4 2025 to 53,000 by Q2 2026, with management guiding for volumes and profitability to increase sharply through H2 2026 and 2027.
Finally, the broader steel cycle improved sharply. Flat rolled steel pricing, which had troughed in H2 2025, rose by approximately 17% over two quarters to reach $1,298/ton by Q2 2026, supported by domestic trade enforcement, manufacturing onshoring, and infrastructure spending.
Watch Peter’s stock pitch from the 2025 Sohn Hearts & Minds Conference
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