In the latest market close, Nucor (NUE) reached $124.68, with a +1.75% movement compared to the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.55%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.25%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.63%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the steel company had gained 2.01% over the past month. This has lagged the Basic Materials sector's gain of 4.58% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.29% in that time.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Nucor in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Nucor to post earnings of $2.21 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 17.54%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.28 billion, up 2.55% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $7.88 per share and a revenue of $31.48 billion, demonstrating changes of -11.46% and +2.43%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Nucor. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged. Nucor currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Nucor's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 15.54. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.69.
Investors should also note that NUE has a PEG ratio of 0.78 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the Steel - Producers industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.94.
The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, which puts it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Nucor Corporation (NUE): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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