Nucor Net Earnings Hit $1.32 Billion, More Than Double A Year Ago, On Higher Steel Prices And Volumes
The steelmaker earned $5.80 a share in the third quarter and expects fourth-quarter earnings in line with or modestly above that.
Nucor, which makes steel and steel products in electric arc furnaces that melt mainly scrap, said Monday that third-quarter net earnings attributable to its stockholders were $1.32 billion, against $607 million a year earlier. Higher selling prices and shipments lifted both its steel mills and steel products segments.
Price and volume did the work
Earnings came to $5.80 per diluted share on net sales of $11.25 billion. That compares with $2.63 a share in the third quarter of 2025 and $5.04 in the second quarter of 2026, which included a $61 million non-cash benefit from a higher valuation of Nucor's investment in Helion, a fusion energy company. Excluding it, second-quarter earnings were $4.84 a share.
The average external selling price rose to $1,493 per ton from $1,258 a year earlier, and sales tons to outside customers climbed to 7.53 million from 6.77 million.
Steel mills earned $1.79 billion before taxes and noncontrolling interests, up from $793 million a year ago. Steel products earned $465 million, up from $319 million. Raw materials earned $105 million, down from $146 million in the second quarter on lower pricing and shipments.
The second quarter had also been helped by $130 million in cash refunds tied to earlier raw material costs, which did not recur. The sequential gain came from prices and volumes.
Cash, buybacks and the balance sheet
Free cash flow, which Nucor began reporting this quarter, was $1.61 billion in the third quarter, according to the investor presentation, against $829 million in the second quarter. Nucor repurchased about 2.03 million shares at an average $247.04 and returned about $629 million to holders in the quarter.
CEO Leon Topalian said the company has generated about $2.7 billion of free cash flow and returned nearly $1.4 billion to shareholders in the first nine months. Nucor ended the quarter with $3.64 billion in cash and short-term investments and an undrawn $2.25 billion credit line.
Topalian also pointed to the first heat at the company's West Virginia sheet mill in September and the start-up of a second galvanizing line at Nucor Steel Berkeley.
A steady fourth quarter
Nucor expects fourth-quarter earnings to be generally in line with or modestly higher than the third. It sees steel mills and steel products stable, as higher realized pricing is offset by seasonally lower volumes, while raw materials earn slightly less on weaker direct reduced iron pricing.
The company holds its earnings call Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.
The company's board declared a $0.56 quarterly dividend, payable November 10, its 214th consecutive.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — NUCOR CORP (NUE) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit d129328dex991.htm — NUCOR CORP 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit d129328dex992.htm — NUCOR CORP 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Nucor Reports Results for the Third Quarter of 2026 — prnewswire.com
- Quarterly Earnings Reports News & Press Releases from PR Newswire — prnewswire.com
