Nucor's Q4 Earnings Miss on Lower Volumes, Revenues Beat

Nucor Corporation NUE reported earnings of $1.64 per share for the fourth quarter of 2025, up from $1.22 in the year-ago quarter.

Barring one-time items, earnings were $1.73 per share for the quarter. It missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.82.

The company recorded net sales of $7,687 million, up around 8.6% year over year. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7,679.1 million.

Nucor Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Nucor Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nucor Corporation Quote

NUE’s Operating Figures

Total sales tons to outside customers for steel mills in the fourth quarter were 4,602,000 tons, up 0.5% year over year. Volumes were down 8% from the prior quarter. The figure missed our estimate of 4,927,000 tons.

Overall operating rates at the company's steel mills were 82% in the fourth quarter of 2025, down sequentially from 85% and up from 74% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Nucor’s Segment Highlights

In the reported quarter, the Steel Mills segment posted earnings of $516 million, down from the third quarter due to lower volumes and margin compression, mainly in sheet.

The Steel Products segment earned $230 million, lower sequentially, reflecting lower volumes and higher average costs per ton.

Meanwhile, the Raw Materials segment delivered $24 million, down from the prior quarter, pressured by two scheduled outages at NUE’s direct reduced iron facilities.

NUE’s Financial Position

Cash and cash equivalents were $2,260 million at the end of the quarter, down around 36.5% year over year. Long-term debt was $6,909 million, up 21.6%. 

In the fourth quarter, Nucor repurchased roughly 0.7 million shares of its common stock.

Nucor’s Outlook

The company anticipates first-quarter 2026 earnings to rise across all segments from the fourth quarter, with the largest increase expected in the Steel Mills segment. In this segment, the rise is expected to stem from higher volumes and higher realized prices. The Steel Products segment is projected to record higher earnings mainly due to increased volumes. The Raw Materials segment is also likely to have increased earnings in the first quarter of 2026. 

NUE’s Price Performance

Shares of Nucor are up 40.4% in a year compared with the industry's 56.5% rise.

NUE’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

NUE currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks worth a look in the basic materials space include Albemarle Corporation ALB, Coeur Mining, Inc. CDE and Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. ASM.

Albemarle is slated to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 11. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at a loss of 53 cents. ALB beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters while missing it in one, with the average earnings surprise being 35.28%. ALB carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. 

Coeur is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CDE’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 33 cents. CDE beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last two quarters and missed once, with the average earnings surprise being 106.61%.CDE currently carries a Zacks Rank #1. 

Avino Silver is slated to report fourth-quarter results on March 11. The consensus estimate for ASM’s earnings is pegged at 6 cents. ASM, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), beat the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 150%. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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