One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$23.87 our estimate vs market $9.50
Wall Street consensus: $9.50 (-60.2% lower than our fair-value estimate)
60% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
SunCoke Energy, Inc.
SXC · NYQ · Basic Materials · Coking Coal
Current price
$9.50
52-week range
$5.52 - $10.68
Market cap
$806.31M
Balance sheet
Stretched
1.62x Concerning
Net debt $618.00M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 3.3% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 37.0% over 3 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 1.1% (peer median: 10.9%).
What this company does
SunCoke Energy, Inc.
SunCoke Energy's main business is producing coke, a crucial ingredient needed to make steel, which it sells to steel manufacturers. The company also earns a large portion of its money by providing essential support services like logistics (the business of moving and storing materials) and on-site handling for other big industrial companies. This means its success is closely linked to the health of the steel industry, as more demand for cars, appliances, and new buildings often means more business for SunCoke.
How the company got here
SunCoke Energy's origins trace back to 1960, starting with test ovens in Virginia to produce coke, a key ingredient for making steel. The company expanded over the decades, improving its technology to enhance coke quality and developing methods to recover heat from the cokemaking process to generate energy. It was acquired by Sunoco, Inc. in 1979 and operated as part of the larger energy company for many years. A major turning point came in 2011 when SunCoke Energy was spun off from Sunoco to become an independent, publicly traded company, allowing it to focus on its core business.
What it actually does
SunCoke Energy is a key supplier for the steel industry, acting as an independent producer of a crucial ingredient called coke. Think of coke as a special, high-carbon fuel made by heating metallurgical coal to very high temperatures without air. Steelmakers use this coke in their blast furnaces to melt iron ore, which is the first step in creating steel. In addition to making coke, the company also provides logistics services, which means it helps move and handle large quantities of raw materials like coal and coke for its customers.
Domestic Coke
This is SunCoke's main business and where most of its sales come from. It runs several large plants in the United States that turn metallurgical coal into coke for steel manufacturers. The company usually sells its coke through long-term, take-or-pay contracts, which means customers agree to buy a certain amount of product or pay a penalty, giving SunCoke a steady and predictable income. This segment also captures the extra heat from making coke and turns it into steam or electricity, creating another product to sell.
Industrial Services
This growing part of the company focuses on handling and moving large quantities of raw materials for various industries. It operates logistics terminals (large hubs for storing and transferring materials) that serve coal producers and customers in the steel and power industries. This segment also provides on-site services to steelmakers, such as processing scrap metal and handling slag (a byproduct of steelmaking). This business line allows SunCoke to earn money from the broader needs of heavy industry, not just from selling coke.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is focused on keeping its main cokemaking plants running smoothly and safely to ensure they continue to be profitable. A major priority is to lock in and renew long-term contracts with its steel customers, which provides financial stability. They are also actively looking to grow the company by expanding their industrial services, which helps to diversify (or spread out) their business beyond just making coke. This includes finding new opportunities in logistics and offering more services to both traditional and more modern steel producers.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$92.10M
FY2024 Q4
$36.10M
FY2025 Q1
$20.90M
FY2025 Q2
$4.90M
FY2025 Q3
$-16.30M
FY2025 Q4
$32.80M
FY2026 Q1
$55.70M
FY2026 Q2
$-43.10M
Revenue
$475.30M
Net income
$13.10M
Diluted EPS
0.15
Operating cash flow
$-27.20M
Free cash flow
$-43.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$455.10M
Net income
$-4.40M
Diluted EPS
-0.05
Operating cash flow
$72.70M
Free cash flow
$55.70M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$480.20M
Net income
$-85.60M
Diluted EPS
-1.00
Operating cash flow
$56.60M
Free cash flow
$32.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$487.00M
Net income
$22.20M
Diluted EPS
0.26
Operating cash flow
$9.20M
Free cash flow
$-16.30M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$434.10M
Net income
$1.90M
Diluted EPS
0.02
Operating cash flow
$17.50M
Free cash flow
$4.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$436.00M
Net income
$17.30M
Diluted EPS
0.20
Operating cash flow
$25.80M
Free cash flow
$20.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$486.00M
Net income
$23.70M
Diluted EPS
0.28
Operating cash flow
$60.90M
Free cash flow
$36.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$490.10M
Net income
$30.70M
Diluted EPS
0.36
Operating cash flow
$107.20M
Free cash flow
$92.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $23.87 vs current price $9.50
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $9.50 (-60.2% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $23.87 a share — about 151.3% above today's price of $9.50, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $618.0M. Interest coverage 1.6x.
Net debt
$618.00M
Interest coverage
1.62x
SunCoke Energy, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 1.6 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here and 2 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
SXC
BASELINE
SunCoke Energy, Inc.
Total debt $660.70M Interest coverage 1.62x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $468.42M Interest coverage -7.17x -100% vs SXC This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with SXC.
Total debt $11.40M Interest coverage -20.33x -100% vs SXC This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with SXC.
Total debt $235.83M Interest coverage 4.69x +190% vs SXC Carries about 2.9x more debt cushion than SXC.
Total debt $47.71M Interest coverage 3.93x +143% vs SXC Carries about 2.4x more debt cushion than SXC.
What you should know
The case for and against SXC
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 3.3% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 5.1% with 13-year payout history.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 37.0% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 1.1% (peer median: 10.9%).
-
Return on equity was -7.5% last year — the company lost money on shareholders' equity.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
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Forward P/E
32.76x
P/B
1.38x
P/S
0.42x
EV/EBITDA
6.35x
PEG ratio
1.98x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
18.1%
Operating margin
6.1%
Net margin
-2.9%
ROE
-7.5%
ROA
1.8%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.08x
Current ratio
2.25x
Quick ratio
1.25x
Total debt
$660.70M
Total cash
$42.70M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$1.90B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
6.0%
EPS TTM
-0.64
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$111.30M
Free CF TTM
$42.30M
FCF margin
2.2%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
5.1%
Payout ratio
64.0%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-17