Nucor (NUE) Up 2.8% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue?

Core Insights - Nucor's Q3 2025 earnings per share reached $2.63, significantly up from $1.05 in the same quarter last year, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.15 [2] - The company reported net sales of approximately $8.52 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of about 14.5%, also exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.16 billion [2] Operating Figures - Total sales tons to outside customers for steel mills in Q3 were 4,976,000 tons, an 8% increase year-over-year, although it fell short of the estimate of 5,095,000 tons [3] - Overall operating rates at Nucor's steel mills were 85% in Q3 2025, unchanged sequentially and up from 75% in Q3 2024 [3] Segment Highlights - The Steel Mills segment reported earnings of $793 million, a decrease from the previous quarter due to lower shipment volumes and margin compression [4] - The Steel Products segment earned $319 million, lower sequentially due to higher costs and stable realized prices [4] - The Raw Materials segment delivered $43 million, down from the prior quarter, impacted by lower pricing for direct reduced iron (DRI) and scrap processing operations [4] Financial Position - Cash and cash equivalents were approximately $2.22 billion at the end of the quarter, down around 47.9% year-over-year [5] - Long-term debt stood at about $6.69 billion, an increase of 17.6% [5] - Nucor repurchased roughly 0.7 million shares of its common stock during the third quarter [5] Outlook - The company expects fourth-quarter 2025 earnings to decline from Q3, primarily due to reduced overall volumes and lower average selling prices at sheet mills [6] - The Steel Products segment is projected to face lower earnings mainly due to decreased volumes, while the Raw Materials segment is likely to be adversely affected by weaker realized pricing and planned maintenance outages at DRI facilities [6] Estimate Trends - There has been a downward trend in estimates for Nucor over the past month, with the magnitude of these revisions being net zero [10] - Nucor currently holds a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold), indicating an expectation of in-line return from the stock in the coming months [10] Industry Performance - Nucor is part of the Zacks Steel - Producers industry, where Commercial Metals (CMC) has gained 3.5% over the past month [11] - Commercial Metals reported revenues of $2.11 billion for the quarter ended August 2025, reflecting a year-over-year change of +5.9% [11] - For the current quarter, Commercial Metals is expected to post earnings of $1.41 per share, indicating a change of +80.8% from the year-ago quarter [12]