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Japanese steel and materials group also making welding products, industrial machinery, aluminum/copper and construction equipment.
Japanese steel and materials group also making welding products, industrial machinery, aluminum/copper and construction equipment.
Basic steel is only part of the business: it also earns from welding materials, specialised steel such as wire for engine valve springs, aluminium sheet for cars, compressors and other machinery, Kobelco excavators, and electricity from its own power plants.
In one line: A diversified materials conglomerate.
Moat: narrow (process know-how, installed base). Long customer relationships but commodity steel margins and a past quality-scandal reputational drag.
Headquarters: Kobe, Japan · Founded: 1905 · Employees: 38,614
Size Kobe Steel (5406.T) is a Japan Materials company (Steel) with a market value of $4.83B, the 249th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥1,922 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 0.2%, against -13.7% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 7th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 3.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +9.9%); the operating margin is 4.9% (peer median 5.7%).
Valuation It trades at 7.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 13.0× (2nd cheapest of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -1% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is -8 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.4 points below its cost of capital (5.7% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 10 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥2.45T | ¥2.44T | ¥2.56T | ¥2.54T | ¥2.47T |
| Revenue growth | — | -5% | 0% | +3% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥398B | ¥414B | ¥434B | ¥447B | ¥331B |
| EBITDA | ¥244B | ¥254B | ¥282B | ¥306B | ¥199B |
| Net income | ¥67.3B | ¥93.7B | ¥120B | ¥110B | ¥72.6B |
| Free cash flow | n/a | ¥77.2B | ¥35.0B | ¥110B | ¥20.7B |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | ¥124B | ¥113B | ¥94.9B | ¥99.0B |
| Total debt | ¥734B | ¥796B | ¥909B | ¥899B | ¥1.04T |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kobe Steel 5406.T | $4.83B | 0% | -3% | 5% | 7.7× | -1.1% |
| Nippon Steel 5401.T | $22.3B | +15% | +28% | 4% | 11.2× | n/a |
| Jfe 5411.T | $6.66B | +2% | -4% | 2% | 8.4× | 13.2% |
| Sumitomo Metal Mining 5713.T | $13.2B | -19% | +22% | 14% | 8.1× | 8.5% |
| UACJ 5741.T | $2.06B | -36% | +28% | 9% | 6.2× | -5.3% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 5406.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -5.0% | -4.6% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -0.2% | -13.7% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -17.6% | -27.6% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -3.5% | +9.9% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 4.9% | 5.7% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 7.7× | 13.0× | 2nd cheapest of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -1.1% | 6.2% | 7th least demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.4% | +6.9% | 7th highest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -8.5 pp | -5.9 pp | 5th least demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.4 pp | -1.1 pp | 10th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.7× | 8.1× | 2nd cheapest of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.3× | 1.6× | 5th most indebted of 15 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kobe Steel 5406.T | Japan | $4.83B | 0% | -3% | 5% | 7.7× | -1.1% | +7.4% |
| Zhejiang Hailiang 002203.SZ | China | $4.53B | -23% | +10% | 2% | 17.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Tube Investments of India TIINDIA.NS | India | $4.47B | -28% | +18% | 7% | 42.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Vallourec VK.PA | France | $5.51B | -31% | -7% | 14% | 15.5× | -7.6% | +3.3% |
| Grupo Simec SAB de CV Sponsored ADR SIM | United States | $4.22B | +4% | +17% | 16% | 14.1× | -9.2% | -1.1% |
| Acerinox ACX.MC | Spain | $4.00B | +2% | 0% | 4% | 15.8× | 18.6% | +4.4% |
| Nanjing Iron & Steel 600282.SS | China | $3.99B | -20% | +12% | 5% | 9.5× | -4.2% | +1.8% |
| Yamato Kogyo 5444.T | Japan | $3.88B | -13% | +1% | 2% | 10.3× | 24.2% | +3.4% |
| Jindal Stainless JSL.NS | India | $6.10B | -9% | +12% | 10% | 16.9× | 21.0% | +28.7% |
| Mineral Resources MIN.AX | Australia | $6.36B | -34% | +44% | 25% | 13.8× | 4.2% | +11.6% |
| APL Apollo Tubes APLAPOLLO.NS | India | $6.42B | +11% | +16% | 7% | 39.8× | 22.1% | +22.1% |
| Cleveland-Cliffs CLF | United States | $6.54B | +4% | +8% | -1% | 6.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Jfe 5411.T | Japan | $6.66B | +2% | -4% | 2% | 8.4× | 13.2% | +7.1% |
| Beijing Shougang 000959.SZ | China | $3.50B | -34% | -2% | 1% | 27.4× | -9.7% | +5.2% |
| Hunan Valin Steel 000932.SZ | China | $3.49B | -27% | -7% | 1% | 20.0× | 6.4% | +0.9% |
| TA Chen Stainless Pipe 2027.TW | Taiwan | $3.46B | +21% | +24% | 18% | 8.0× | -10.1% | +11.4% |
| Commercial Metals CMC | United States | $6.85B | -12% | +20% | 9% | 9.3× | 6.2% | +6.9% |
| Salzgitter SZG.DE | Germany | $3.29B | -14% | -6% | -1% | 10.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Steel Authority of India SAIL.NS | India | $7.49B | -8% | +9% | 8% | 8.9× | 11.0% | +9.9% |
| HBIS 000709.SZ | China | $2.96B | -16% | -6% | 5% | 12.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Yongxing Special Materials Technology 002756.SZ | China | $2.88B | -59% | +30% | 16% | 11.2× | -2.3% | +8.4% |