L.B. Foster Company Common Stock (FSTR)

FairStock Score: 54/100 — MIXED

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look for businesses that earn high returns on capital and sell at a sensible price. L.B. Foster supplies rail and infrastructure products and services, a necessary but competitive industry. It does not strike me as a wide-moat franchise. FairStock calculates a return on equity of 6.38% and return on capital employed of 5.31%, which are modest. The balance sheet is respectable: debt-to-equity is 0.39, the Altman Z-Score is 2.97, and the Piotroski F-Score is 7 out of 9. The turnaround is visible. In fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-30, revenue was $138.6M and net income was $3.1M, or $0.29 per diluted share. In fiscal Q1 2026, the quarter ended 2026-03-31, revenue was $121.1M and net income was $1.5M, or $0.14 per diluted share. But the longer record is uneven. FY2025 revenue was $540.0M with net income of $7.5M, or $0.69 per diluted share, after FY2024 net income of $42.9M, or $3.89 per share, and FY2023 net income of $1.5M, or $0.13 per share. Free cash flow is the best feature: $47.1M trailing twelve months, a 12.6% FCF yield. Valuation is the rub. At the 2026-10-13 close of $35.54, FairStock's P/E is 33.53, P/B is 2.07, and the Graham Number is $20.23, giving a negative margin of safety of 75.68%. The PEG of 0.20 and EV/EBITDA of 12.07 offer some hope if growth continues, but a 2.25% net margin in the latest quarter leaves little cushion. This is a turnaround to watch, not a classic value bargain.

In plain English: L.B. Foster makes and sells products and services used by railroads and other infrastructure customers. The company has returned to profit and produces solid cash, but its profit margins are thin and its returns are modest. At the 2026-10-13 close of $35.54, the shares look expensive compared with the company's earnings and net assets, even though the cash flow looks attractive.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer