Note 14 - Stock-Based Compensation

Description of the Plan

On May 6, 2020, the Company's shareholders approved the 2020 Equity and Incentive Compensation Plan ("2020 Plan"), which replaced the previously approved Amended and Restated 2014 Equity and Incentive Compensation Plan ("2014 Plan"). The 2020 Plan authorizes the Compensation Committee to provide cash awards and equity-based compensation in the form of stock

options, stock appreciation rights, restricted shares, restricted share units, performance shares, performance units, dividend equivalents, and certain other awards for the primary purpose of providing our employees, officers and directors incentives and rewards for service and/or performance. Subject to adjustment as described in the 2020 Plan, and subject to the 2020 Plan share counting rules, a total of 2.0 million common shares of the Company are available for awards granted under the 2020 Plan (plus shares subject to awards granted under the 2020 Plan or the 2014 Plan that are canceled or forfeited, expire, are settled for cash, or are unearned to the extent of such cancellation, forfeiture, expiration, cash settlement or unearned amount, as further described in the 2020 Plan). These shares may be shares of original issuance or treasury shares, or a combination of both. The aggregate number of shares available under the 2020 Plan will generally be reduced by one common share for every one share subject to an award granted under the 2020 Plan. The 2020 Plan also provides that, subject to adjustment as described in the 2020 Plan: (1) the aggregate number of common shares actually issued or transferred upon the exercise of incentive stock options will not exceed 2.0 million common shares; and (2) no non-employee director of the Company will be granted, in any period of one calendar year, compensation for such service having an aggregate maximum value (measured at the grant date as applicable, and calculating the value of any awards based on the grant date fair value for financial reporting purposes) in excess of $0.5 million.

On May 5, 2021, shareholders approved the Amended and Restated 2020 Equity and Incentive Compensation Plan (the “Amended 2020 Plan”), which amended and restated the 2020 plan. In general, the Amended 2020 Plan modified the 2020 Plan to (1) increase the number of common shares, without par value, of the Company available for awards by 2,000,000 shares, (2) correspondingly increase the limit on shares that may be issued or transferred upon the exercise of incentive stock options by 2,000,000 shares, (3) remove the 2020 Plan’s full value award limit of 1.8 million shares and (4) extend the plan term until May 5, 2031. In addition, the Amended 2020 Plan made certain other conforming, clarifying or non-substantive changes to the terms of the 2020 Plan to implement the Amended 2020 Plan but did not make other material changes to the 2020 Plan.

Stock Options

There were no stock options granted during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023.

The following summarizes the Company's stock option activity from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025:

 

 

 

Number of
Shares

 

 

Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price

 

 

Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term (Years)

 

 

Aggregate
Intrinsic Value
(millions)

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2024

 

 

300,218

 

 

$

11.23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercised

 

 

(9,000

)

 

 

6.90

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canceled, forfeited or expired

 

 

(35,980

)

 

 

29.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2025

 

 

255,238

 

 

$

8.88

 

 

 

3.4

 

 

$

2.1

 

Options expected to vest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Options exercisable

 

 

255,238

 

 

$

8.88

 

 

 

3.4

 

 

$

2.1

 

Time-Based Restricted Stock Units

Time-based restricted stock units are issued with the fair value equal to the closing market price of Metallus common shares on the date of grant. These restricted stock units do not have any performance conditions for vesting. Expense is recognized over the service period, adjusted for any forfeitures that occur during the vesting period.

The following summarizes the Company's stock-settled, time-based restricted stock unit activity from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025:

 

 

 

Number of
Shares

 

 

Weighted
Average
Grant Date
Fair Value

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2024

 

 

1,215,132

 

 

$

14.55

 

Granted

 

 

623,750

 

 

 

14.07

 

Vested

 

 

(310,750

)

 

 

15.60

 

Canceled, forfeited or expired

 

 

(26,184

)

 

 

17.23

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2025

 

 

1,501,948

 

 

$

14.08

 

Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units

Annual grants of performance-based restricted stock units are generally earned (determined under a Compensation Committee approved matrix) based on the Company's relative total shareholder return as compared to an identified peer group of steel companies. The fair value of each unit is determined using a Monte Carlo valuation model, a generally accepted lattice pricing model. The overall vesting period is generally three years, with relative total shareholder return measured for the one, two and three-year periods creating effectively a “nested” 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year performance period. Relative total shareholder return is calculated for each nested performance period by taking the beginning and ending price points based off a 20-trading day average closing stock price as of December 31.

The following summarizes the Company's stock-settled performance-based restricted stock unit activity from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025:

 

 

 

Number of
Shares

 

 

Weighted
Average
Grant Date
Fair Value

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2024

 

 

590,887

 

 

$

25.93

 

Granted

 

 

329,580

 

 

 

17.31

 

Vested

 

 

(176,747

)

 

 

25.04

 

Canceled, forfeited or expired

 

 

(4,080

)

 

 

17.85

 

Outstanding as of December 31, 2025

 

 

739,640

 

 

$

22.35

 

Transformation Incentive Grant Program

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Board approved a performance-based Transformation Incentive Grant program (the “Transformation Incentive Grant Program”). Under the Transformation Incentive Grant Program, certain employees were granted performance-based restricted stock unit awards designed to be earned based upon the closing price performance of the Company's common shares during a performance period running from December 1, 2023 through December 31, 2026. Similar to the annual performance-based restricted stock units, the fair value of each share is determined using a Monte Carlo valuation model, a generally accepted lattice pricing model. There were no additional grants under the Transformation Incentive Grant Program during 2025 and 2024. As of December 31, 2025, the number of shares under the transformation incentive grant program is 350,000 shares at a weighted average of $22.46.

Metallus recognized stock-based compensation expense of $14.7 million, $14.0 million and $11.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

As of December 31, 2025, future stock-based compensation expense related to the unvested portion of all awards is approximately $18.2 million, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 1.7 years.

Historical Timeline

Fiscal YearFiled
2025Feb 20, 2026Showing above
2023Feb 28, 2024
2022Feb 24, 2023
2021Feb 24, 2022
2020Feb 25, 2021

About Stock Compensation Disclosures

Stock-based compensation disclosures detail the equity awards granted to employees and executives — including stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), and performance shares — along with the valuation methods and assumptions used to expense them. This section reveals the true cost of talent retention and the alignment between management incentives and shareholder interests.

Key signals: total unrecognized compensation expense and its expected recognition period signal future earnings headwinds from already-granted awards. For stock options, examine Black-Scholes assumptions — expected volatility, risk-free rate, and expected term — as understating any of these reduces reported compensation expense. Compare stock compensation expense as a percentage of revenue against peers to assess dilution cost. Watch vesting schedules for acceleration clauses tied to change-of-control events. Performance-based awards with undemanding targets may indicate weak governance. Add back stock compensation to operating cash flow to calculate a more conservative free cash flow figure.