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Nucor
(NYSE:NUE)
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Rating:73Outperform
Price Target:
$287.00
â–²(15.93% Upside)
Action:Upgraded
Date:07/31/26
The score is driven mainly by improving fundamentals with a strong balance sheet and a meaningful TTM earnings rebound, supported by strong trend signals with the stock trading above all key moving averages. Offsetting factors are a relatively high P/E for a cyclical steel company and mixed cash-flow conversion, though the latest earnings call outlook and shareholder return discipline are supportive.
Positive Factors
Balance sheet & liquidity
Nucor’s conservative leverage, sizable cash and undrawn credit provide durable financial flexibility. Strong liquidity and sector-leading investment-grade ratings support multi-year growth capex, dividend/buyback pacing and resilience through steel-cycle troughs without forcing distressed asset sales.
Negative Factors
Raw material cost sensitivity
Nucor remains exposed to volatile scrap, pig iron and iron‑ore pricing and transfer‑pricing lags for internal DRI flows. Persistent commodity cost swings can compress raw‑materials margins and create sustained pressure on consolidated profitability, limiting margin predictability across cycles.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Balance sheet & liquidity
Nucor’s conservative leverage, sizable cash and undrawn credit provide durable financial flexibility. Strong liquidity and sector-leading investment-grade ratings support multi-year growth capex, dividend/buyback pacing and resilience through steel-cycle troughs without forcing distressed asset sales.
Read all positive factors
Nucor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Earnings Before Tax by Segment
Highlights profitability across different business segments, indicating which areas are driving earnings and where there might be challenges or opportunities for growth.
Highlights profitability across different business segments, indicating which areas are driving earnings and where there might be challenges or opportunities for growth.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyNucor (NUE) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$58.60B
Dividend Yield0.87%
Average Volume (3M)1.55M
Price to Earnings (P/E)20.5
Beta (1Y)1.23
Revenue Growth17.19%
EPS Growth126.69%
CountryUS
Employees33,000
SectorBasic Materials
Sector Strength58
IndustrySteel
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)12.55
Shares Outstanding227,740,950
10 Day Avg. Volume1,164,410
30 Day Avg. Volume1,552,399
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-1.95
Price to Book (P/B)1.80
Price to Sales (P/S)1.16
P/FCF Ratio-200.16
Enterprise Value/Market Cap<0.01
Enterprise Value/Revenue<0.01
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit<0.01
Enterprise Value/Ebitda<0.01
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$286.40Price Target Upside15.69% Upside
Rating ConsensusStrong Buy
Number of Analyst Covering10
EPS Forecast (FY)17.42
Revenue Forecast (FY)$39.91B
Nucor Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Nucor Corporation is a prominent producer and distributor of steel and diverse steel-related products. Within its Steel Mills division, the company manufactures a comprehensive range of steel goods. These include various sheet steel types like hot...
How the Company Makes Money
Nucor makes money primarily by producing and selling steel and steel-based products, with revenue driven largely by shipment volumes and realized selling prices across its major segments. (1) Steel Mills: This is a core earnings engine where Nucor...
Nucor Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Jul 27, 2026
(Q2-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Oct 26, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call conveyed a strongly positive performance and outlook: record shipments, substantial sequential earnings improvement (steel mills +35% QoQ), robust free cash flow ($829M), sizable shareholder returns (41% of net earnings) and clear progress on key growth projects (West Virginia, Lexington, Kingman). Offsetting items include elevated preoperating/start-up costs ($120M), expected near-term pressure in the raw materials segment due to scrap and iron ore dynamics, a working capital build, and some category-specific import rebounds. Overall, the positive operational momentum, cash generation, trade-driven reduction in aggregate imports, and management's reiteration of disciplined capital allocation materially outweigh the near-term headwinds and timing-related costs.Positive Updates
Record Steel Mill Shipments
Steel mill shipments reached an all-time high of 7.1 million tons in Q2 (second straight quarterly record), with broad strength across product categories and Brandenburg shipping more than 230,000 tons (another plate record).
Negative Updates
Elevated Preoperating and Start-up Costs
Preoperating and start-up costs totaled $120 million in Q2 and are expected to remain elevated through the rest of 2026 and throughout 2027 as the West Virginia greenfield sheet mill and other projects complete construction and ramp.
Read all updates
Q2-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Record Steel Mill Shipments
Steel mill shipments reached an all-time high of 7.1 million tons in Q2 (second straight quarterly record), with broad strength across product categories and Brandenburg shipping more than 230,000 tons (another plate record).
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Nucor guided to higher consolidated third-quarter earnings driven by expanding metal margins and stable volumes in the steel mills (no further cash refunds expected), increased Steel Products earnings from higher volumes and realizations, and lower Raw Materials earnings due to weaker scrap pricing and elevated iron‑ore costs (pellet idling in the Middle East); management reiterated full‑year shipments growth nearer the high end of its prior 5%–10% range for 2026, ~$2.5 billion CapEx for the year (Q2 CapEx $571M) with ~60% toward growth, and $120M of preoperating/start‑up costs in Q2 that should remain elevated through 2026–2027. Key metrics on the balance sheet and cash flow cited in support of the outlook include Q2 EBITDA of approximately $2.0B, Q2 net earnings of $1.2B ($5.04/share; $4.84 adj.), Q2 free cash flow of $829M, cash of ~$2.7B and liquidity of $3.4B, total debt at 23% of capital, and a continued commitment to return at least 40% of net earnings (Q2 distributions were $479M, 41% of net earnings); the West Virginia sheet mill remains on time/on budget (first coil run through pickle line, commissioning ongoing) with commercial ramp in early 2027 and ~50% utilization targeted by end of its first year, and Q3/Q4 fiscal days are 91 and 89, respectively.Nucor Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
72
Positive
Balance Sheet
78
Positive
Cash Flow
64
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 36.10B | 32.49B | 30.73B | 34.71B | 41.51B | 36.48B |
| Gross Profit | 5.58B | 3.88B | 4.10B | 7.82B | 12.50B | 11.03B |
| EBITDA | 5.63B | 4.11B | 4.49B | 7.69B | 11.57B | 10.23B |
| Net Income | 2.88B | 1.74B | 2.03B | 4.52B | 7.61B | 6.83B |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 36.95B | 35.10B | 33.94B | 35.34B | 32.48B | 25.82B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 2.69B | 2.70B | 4.14B | 7.13B | 4.86B | 2.62B |
| Total Debt | 7.10B | 7.12B | 6.95B | 6.84B | 6.69B | 5.68B |
| Total Liabilities | 13.69B | 12.98B | 12.52B | 13.22B | 12.91B | 11.22B |
| Stockholders Equity | 22.11B | 20.94B | 20.29B | 20.94B | 18.41B | 14.02B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 1.58B | -188.00M | 806.00M | 4.90B | 8.12B | 4.61B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 4.42B | 3.23B | 3.98B | 7.11B | 10.07B | 6.23B |
| Investing Cash Flow | -2.46B | -3.23B | -3.73B | -2.50B | -5.70B | -2.87B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -1.42B | -1.31B | -3.06B | -2.59B | -2.51B | -3.60B |
Nucor Technical Analysis
Positive
247.56
Price Trends
244.08
Positive
220.25
Positive
191.79
Positive
Market Momentum
7.62
Negative
71.56
Negative
80.14
Negative
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For NUE, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 247.56 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 243.02, above the 50-day MA of 244.08, and above the 200-day MA of 191.79, indicating a bullish trend. The MACD of 7.62 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 71.56 is Negative, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 80.14 is Negative, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for NUE.
Nucor Risk Analysis
Nucor disclosed 17 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Nucor reported the most risks in the "Legal & Regulatory" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Nucor Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (61)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
74 Outperform | $20.73B | 23.47 | 12.35% | 1.20% | 15.44% | 25.45% | |
73 Outperform | $58.60B | 20.50 | 13.53% | 0.90% | 17.19% | 126.69% | |
71 Outperform | $7.60B | 12.84 | 13.65% | 1.10% | 15.23% | 1535.96% | |
69 Neutral | $36.01B | 22.70 | 17.60% | 0.83% | 19.77% | 60.80% | |
64 Neutral | $52.10B | 22.53 | 4.31% | 0.86% | 3.25% | -27.63% | |
61 Neutral | $10.43B | 7.12 | -0.05% | 2.87% | 2.86% | -36.73% | |
49 Neutral | $16.17B | 18.02 | 2.55% | 3.10% | -3.30% | 157.76% |
* Basic Materials Sector Average
NUE
Nucor
274.04
136.43
99.15%
MT
ArcelorMittal
75.21
44.47
144.69%
CMC
Commercial Metals Company
72.63
21.28
41.44%
PKX
POSCO
54.68
0.84
1.56%
RS
Reliance Steel
414.91
131.73
46.52%
STLD
Steel Dynamics
265.10
143.03
117.17%
Nucor Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyStock BuybackDividendsFinancial Disclosures
Nucor posts strong Q2 2026 earnings and outlook
Positive
Jul 27, 2026
On July 27, 2026, Nucor reported second quarter 2026 consolidated net earnings attributable to stockholders of $1.16 billion, or $5.04 per diluted share, on net sales of $10.40 billion, with adjusted net earnings of $1.11 billion, or $4.84 per sha...
Executive/Board ChangesShareholder Meetings
Nucor Shareholders Back Board, Auditor and Executive Pay
Positive
May 19, 2026
At its annual meeting of stockholders held on May 14, 2026, Nucor Corporation shareholders elected all eight nominated directors to serve until the 2027 annual meeting, with each nominee receiving more votes in favor than withheld, underscoring br...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.