This paper describes a series of compression tests performed on cold-formed steel channel sections with perforations in the web (thermal studs) fabricated from a galvanized steel plate whose thickness ranged from 1.0 mm to 1.6 mm and nominal yield stress was 295 MPa. The structural behavior and performance of thermal studs undergoing local, distortional, or flexural-torsional buckling were investigated experimentally and analytically. The compression tests indicate that the slits in the web had significant negative effects on the buckling and ultimate strength of thin-walled channel section columns. The compressive strength of perforated thermal studs was estimated using equivalent solid channel sections of reduced thickness instead of the studs. The direct strength method, a newly developed and adopted alternative to the effective width method for designing cold-formed steel sections in the AISI Standard S100 (2004) and AS/NZS 4600 (Standard Australia 2005), was calibrated to the test results for its application to cold-formed channel sections with slits in the web. The results verify that the DSM can predict the ultimate strength of channel section columns with slits in the web by substituting equivalent solid sections of reduced thickness for them.