> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bullished.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Steel Dynamics CEO Dismisses Rumored U.S. Mill As 'An Incredulous Fantasy' And Waves Off Aluminum 'Stumble' Headlines - URL: https://www.bullished.co/steel-dynamics-ceo-dismisses-rumored-u-s-mill-as-an-incredulous-fantasy-and-waves-off-b4085969/ - Published: 2026-10-20T16:25:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-29T19:44:45.000Z - Description: Aluminum will not reach operating profit for the second half in total, the CFO said, with capital spending next year possibly "$600 plus million." - Author: Matteo Parrino - Tags: Earnings, STLD, Industry: Materials [Steel Dynamics](https://www.bullished.co/tag/stld/) Chairman and CEO Mark Millett called a possible new U.S. steel mill "an incredulous fantasy" on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, answering a BNP Paribas analyst's question about uses for cash. Millett, who is retiring, said he took the analyst to mean the ASAR project and does not expect it to happen. ## What Millett said about the mill The BNP Paribas analyst asked about 2027 capital allocation and remarked that building another steel mill in the U.S. may not be a great idea. Millett said he assumed the analyst meant the ASAR project, which he said was "announced or suggested" a week or two earlier. He added: "We do not feel that the chances of that coming to fruition, in all honesty, is going to occur." CFO Theresa Wagler, whom Millett's call remarks said takes over as CEO at the end of this year, said the company is in a formal capital allocation process and prioritizing organic growth projects over the next one to three years. Capital spending next year "might be in the range of $600 plus million," she said, but that needs refining. Specifics are due at a capital markets day in the first half of 2027. ## Aluminum: a stumble, a fix and a profit timeline Millett pointed to "headlines this morning" suggesting "a challenge and maybe a stumble." His reply: when you climb Everest, "you're going to stumble a little bit along the way." He said a surface-quality problem appeared as the hot strip mill ramped to higher rolling speeds on light-gauge product, causing significant yield losses. The fix was changing the coolant. The troubleshooting cost several weeks of lower production and yield and left the project a month behind. The hot strip mill has run at 75% so far in October, and Millett still sees 90% by year-end. That is the hot mill, he told a Goldman Sachs analyst, so shipments will not be at 90%. Third-quarter aluminum operating losses were $26 million, Wagler said, a 21% improvement over the prior quarter. Asked whether the aluminum unit would be profitable at the operating level in the second half, she said that for the half in totality it is not likely, but it will be "definitely there in the first quarter and onward for 2027." She declined to comment on analyst estimates. ## The quarter and what comes next Net income was $756 million, or $5.26 per diluted share, on revenue of $6.5 billion, Wagler said. Steel shipments were a record 3.8 million tons, and adjusted EBITDA was $1.2 billion. Millett said results came in just shy of guidance because of unrealized hedging adjustments of just under $30 million. Cash from operations was $846 million, and the company repurchased $591 million of stock this year, with $216 million left under the current program at September 30. The second automotive annealing line is in commissioning and due to be operational in the first quarter of 2027. Millett said the call was likely his last, and the next detailed look at growth projects is the capital markets day planned for the first half of 2027. Learn - [How To Read An Earnings Call Transcript: Start With Guidance, Then Find What's Missing →](https://www.bullished.co/learn/how-to-read-an-earnings-call/) How to read an earnings call transcript: check guidance first, look for dropped metrics, compare growth with last quarter, and watch hedged wording. ### More on Steel Dynamics - [Steel Dynamics Shifts $40.5 Million Of New Process Steel Deal Value Out Of Customer Relationships](https://www.bullished.co/steel-dynamics-shifts-40-5-million-of-new-process-steel-deal-value-out-of-customer-e31250d7/) - [Steel Dynamics Earns $756 Million On Record 3.8 Million Tons Shipped](https://www.bullished.co/steel-dynamics-earns-756-million-on-record-3-8-million-tons-shipped-3e0a21f5/) - [Steel Dynamics Names Six Leaders, Including A New Treasurer, Before CFO Handover](https://www.bullished.co/steel-dynamics-names-six-leaders-including-a-new-treasurer-before-cfo-handover-0de60881/) [All Steel Dynamics (STLD) coverage →](https://www.bullished.co/tag/stld/)