Nucor Posts Q4 Earnings Beat, States It Sees An Increase In Q1 Earnings, Stock Rises

Nucor Corp (NYSE: NUE) shares are trading higher in Monday's after-hours session after the company reported its fourth-quarter financial results.

What To Know: Nucor reported quarterly earnings of $3.16 per share which topped analyst estimates of $2.87 per share.

Quarterly sales of $7.70 billion clocked in above analyst expectations of $7.65 billion, an 11.74% decrease over sales of $8.72 billion from the same period last year.

Approximately 5.93 million tons were shipped to outside customers, a 5% decrease from the third quarter of 2023 and a 3% increase year-over-year. Total steel mill shipments fell 4% compared to the third quarter and increased 8% year-over-year.

Steel mill shipments to internal customers comprised 20% of total steel mill shipments, which was unchanged from the third quarter and the fourth quarter of 2022. Additionally, downstream steel product shipments to outside customers declined 11% from the third quarter of 2023 and decreased 14% year-over-year.

Nucor stated that it expects first-quarter 2024 earnings to increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

"The Nucor team delivered a strong finish to 2023, which represents the third-most profitable year in our Company's history. Nucor's strategy to grow our core steelmaking capabilities and expand beyond into steel-adjacent business lines continues to deliver strong results," said Leon Topalian, Nucor's chair, president and CEO.   

"Over the past four years, Nucor has generated an average annual ROE of 33% and has returned approximately $9.7 billion to its shareholders through dividends and share repurchases," Topalian said, adding, "We remain optimistic that Nucor's best days are ahead of us, with a resilient U.S. economy and steel-intensive megatrends driving increased demand for our products. With our strong balance sheet and broad array of sustainable steel solutions, we believe Nucor is unparalleled with respect to its ability to leverage these market drivers for continued growth."

NUE Price Action: Shares of Nucor were up 1.62% at $179.50 in the after-hours session at the time of publication Monday.

Photo: Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay