L.B. Foster Company
Rank #185Op. LeverageFSTR · Nasdaq · Industrials
L.B. Foster Company (FSTR) — Rank #185 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.34) · ROE 4.2% · Piotroski F-Score 6 / 9.
As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0000352825 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.
About
L.B.
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Foster Company provides engineered and manufactured products and services for building and supporting infrastructure in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in two segments: Rail, Technologies, and Services; and Infrastructure Solutions. The Rail, Technologies, and Services segment offers new rail to passenger and short line freight railroads, industrial companies, and rail contractors, as well as new and used rails; rail accessories, such as track spikes, bolts, angle bars, tie plates, and other products; insulated rail joints and related accessories; fixation fasteners, coverboards, and special accessories; power rail; and trackwork products. This segment also provides friction management products and application systems; mobile and wayside systems; railroad condition monitoring systems and equipment including wheel impact load detection systems, wayside data collection and management systems, and rockfall, flood, earthworks, and bridge strike monitoring; and aftermarket services. The Infrastructure Solutions segment manufactures precast concrete products, including restrooms, concession stands, and other protective storage buildings under the CXT brand for national, state, and municipal parks; and sound walls, bridge beams, and other wet/dry utilities concrete products. This segment also provides steel bridge products; corrosion protection solutions; cuts, threads, and paints pipes; threading services for oil and gas production; fabricated steel and aluminum products; and protective pipeline coating services. L.B.
Foster Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Industry
- Railroads
- Sector
- Industrials
- State
- PA
- Filer Category
- Accelerated filerSmaller reporting company
- Fiscal Year End
- December 31
- Website
- lbfoster.com
Price History
Company Snapshot
P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.
Market Cap
$385.34M
P/E (annual)
53.1
P/S (annual)
0.7
P/B
2.2
P/OCF (annual)
10.8
Shareholder Yield
-5.9%
Employees
1,191
Industry
Railroads
Exchange
Nasdaq
Signal Flags
Quality Profile
Profitability
1/1 passSafety
1/1 passCash Flow
3/3 passGrowth
1/2 passTerry Smith quality gate
Passes 1/5 Terry Smith thresholds1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.
What Growth Is Priced In
Implied revenue growth (10Y)
4.5%
The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).
Dilution drag: 5.9% — per-share value needs a total required return of 10.4% once share-count change is priced in.
vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 2.9%
priced above its own historyCost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)
r = 8%
0.4%
r = 10% (base)
4.5%
r = 12%
8.1%
Net debt / market cap: -1.5%
Valuation History
Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.
P / E
Price / diluted EPS
P / S
Price / revenue per share
P / B
Price / book value per share
P / GP
Price / gross profit per share
P / FCF
Price / free cash flow per share
Disclosure regression check
3 previously-disclosed line items are no longer reported. Worth checking the filing for why.
Operating margin expansion and free cash flow are the primary reads at this stage.
Profitability
Gross profitability (GP / assets)
0.34
Primary signal (Novy-Marx).
7th of 9 SIC 50 peers
Return on equity
4.2%
Gross margin
21.1%
8th of 9 SIC 50 peers
Revenue growth (YoY)
11.7%
Gross margin improving
Margin trend vs prior year.
Operating Leverage
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue vs COGS | ||||
| Revenue vs OpEx | ||||
| Op. Income vs Revenue |
Growth
Revenue CAGR (3Y)
—
Revenue CAGR (5Y)
1.7%
Earnings CAGR (3Y)
—
FCF CAGR (3Y)
—
Anti-fragile safety
Balance-sheet safety
Composite anti-fragile check.
Debt / equity
0.87
5th of 9 SIC 50 peers (best = lowest)
Current ratio
2.00×
6th of 9 SIC 50 peers
Quick ratio
—
Net cash
$5.78M
Cash & equivalents minus total debt.
Cash-flow health
Free cash flow
$25.20M
Operating cash flow minus capex.
Positive free cash flow
FCF / net income
2.34
Cash-backing of earnings.
FCF/NI divergence
Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).
Accruals healthy
Cash-backed earnings.
SBC / revenue
0.9%
Stock-based comp intensity.
Piotroski F-Score
F-Score
6 / 9
Fundamental-strength score (0-9).