Friedman Industries Inc (NASDAQ: FRD)

Friedman Industries, Incorporated is a manufacturer and processor of metals that operates flat-roll and tubular processing facilities across the United States. The company converts hot-rolled steel coil into finished sheet, plate, slit coil and welded pipe products for industrial customers. It reports its operations in two distinct segments: flat-roll products and tubular products.

Friedman Industries, Incorporated generates revenue primarily from the sale of its own inventory of processed metal products and, to a lesser extent, from fee-based processing and storage of customer-owned material. The flat-roll segment derives most of its income from selling company-owned steel sheet, plate and slit coil, while also earning fees for toll processing and storage of customer material. The tubular segment generates all of its revenue from the sale of company-owned electric resistance welded pipe, including line pipe, oil country pipe and structural pipe. This mixed model allows the company to benefit from both product sales and service fees.

The company operates through the following segments: flat-roll products and tubular products.

• Flat-roll products: This segment runs processing plants in Hickman, Arkansas; Decatur, Alabama; Miami, Florida; East Chicago, Indiana; Granite City, Illinois; and Sinton, Texas, plus a distribution center in Orlando, Florida. Facilities use temper mills, stretcher levelers, corrective levelers and slitters to improve surface quality and cut material to thicknesses from 30 gauge to 1 inch and widths from 11 inches to 96 inches, producing slit coil as thin as 32 gauge and as narrow as 0.5 inch. In the nine months ended December 31, 2025, flat-roll segment sales totaled approximately $420.4 million, compared with $286.9 million in the same period of 2024, while toll processing and storage revenue contributed about $3.9 million in 2025 and $3.7 million in 2024. The segment’s average selling price per ton rose from roughly $868 in 2024 to about $970 in 2025, reflecting stronger demand and higher material costs.

• Tubular products: This segment comprises the Texas Tubular Products division in Lone Star, Texas, which operates two electric resistance welded pipe mills capable of producing pipe with outside diameters from 2 3/8 inches to 8 5/8 inches. The mills are API licensed to make line pipe and oil country pipe and also manufacture structural pipe meeting industry standards. In the nine months ended December 31, 2025, tubular segment sales reached approximately $34.7 million, up from $28.5 million in the comparable 2024 period. Tons sold increased from roughly 26,500 tons in 2024 to about 29,000 tons in 2025, and the average price per ton climbed from approximately $1,065 to $1,198. All tubular revenue comes from the sale of company‑owned inventory, with no fee‑based processing component.

Friedman Industries, Incorporated holds a competitive position as a regional steel processor with a broad geographic footprint and API‑licensed tubular capabilities, distinguishing it from many pure service centers. Its ability to manage raw material costs through hedging and its integrated processing network provide advantages over competitors that lack similar scale or product diversification. The company’s scale allows it to serve a wide range of end‑users while maintaining flexibility in product mix.

The company serves a diverse customer base that includes manufacturers, distributors, and end users in sectors such as construction, energy, automotive and general industrial manufacturing. Specific customer names are not disclosed in the filing, but the customer base consists of industrial firms that require processed steel sheet, plate, slit coil and welded pipe for their own production or distribution activities.