An analytical approach is presented to investigate the deformation characteristics of billets in a continuous billet mill using power driven horizontal stands and idle vertical stands. The analysis is validated by comparison to the experimental results in a previously published work. The analytical results have shown that, apart from the problems of slip and buckling of billet, there are some shortcomings involved in this method. Compared to conventional rolling with all driven stands, the roll load for idle vertical stands and the rolling torque for horizontal stands are almost doubled. The billet is severely stressed within the roll-bite of idle vertical stands and the overall rolling power has increased by one third of that for conventional rolling. Theseshortcomings impair the feasibility of industrial application of idle vertical stand rolling method.