Nucor Corp.
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+ FollowMarket Cap$62.13B
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Earnings Call Q3 2026
October 27, 2026 - AI Summary
Strong Q3 performance + shareholder returns
- Q3’26 net earnings: $1.3B / $5.80 EPS (above midpoint of guidance by ~3.5%), with strength driven by higher-than-expected shipments and higher average selling prices in steel mills.
- EBITDA: about $2.3B (best quarter in >3 years).
- Capital-lighting into cash: Free cash flow (FCF) $1.6B in Q3; ~$2.7B YTD.
- Dividends + buybacks: $629M in the quarter; ~$1.4B YTD (42% of net earnings). Commitment: ≥40% of annual net earnings returned to shareholders.
- Balance sheet: ~$3.6B cash and $4.3B liquidity; Total debt/capital ~23%; credit profile remains “investment-grade” (highest among North American steel producers per company).
Shipments and operations: records, but Q4 seasonality/outages matter
- Steel mill shipments: >7.2M tons in Q3—record, and third consecutive quarter of record shipments; continued leverage from capex invested over last ~6 years.
- Major mill highlights:
- Brandenburg (plate): ~240k tons (~1/3 of plate group shipments) with customer qualification progress.
- Lexington micromill (bar/merchant bar): EBITDA positive since March; ~80% utilization in Q3.
- Kankakee upgrade: helping deliver best merchant bar quarter in several years.
- Q4 outlook: consolidated earnings expected in line with or modestly higher than Q3.
- Key downside risk to volumes: Q4 has fewer shipping days (89 vs 91) plus holidays and potential winter weather, with planned outages also creating more downtime. Management framed this as partly offset by stronger pricing and historically ~7% Q3→Q4 shipment decline.
Margins: improving vs early-2026 compression, but some cost creep
- Steel products segment: pre-tax earnings $465M (+ $112M QoQ). Volumes +6%, realized pricing +7%; ~200 bps EBITDA margin expansion as downstream pricing catches up with earlier steel input cost compression.
- Steel mills: pre-tax earnings $1.8B (+ $232M QoQ); price increases across sheet/structural helped, but partially offset by higher costs (notably because Q2 had $130M cash refunds that did not recur).
- Cost inflation notes (negative/surprising element): management cited conversion cost creep tied to consumables, freight, energy, services, plus planned outages reducing fixed cost absorption.
- Forward cost expectation: modest Q4 QoQ uptick in conversion costs (outage effects + higher start-up/pre-operating spending at West Virginia as ramp approaches).
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$82.20
69.3% downside
Current Fair Value
69.3% downsideOvervalued by 69.3% based on the discounted cash flow analysis.
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Share Statistics
| Market cap | $62.13 Billion |
|---|---|
| Enterprise Value | $67.03 Billion |
| Annual dividend | $2.24 |
| Dividend yield | 0.82% |
| Earnings per Share | $7.53 |
| Beta | 1.85 |
| Outstanding Shares | 226,400,000 |
Return
| Return on Equity | 16.76% |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets | 10.09% |
| Return on Invested Capital | 16.27% |
Valuation & Multiples
| P/E Ratio | 17.41 |
|---|---|
| PEG | 14.84 |
| Price to Sales | 1.57 |
| Price to Book Ratio | 2.71 |
| Enterprise Value to Revenue | 1.73 |
| Enterprise Value to EBIT | 13.09 |
| Enterprise Value to Net Income | 18 |
| Total Debt to Enterprise | 0.11 |
| Debt to Equity | 0.33 |
Revenue Sources
No data
Last Earnings Call
Report Date
October 26, 2026
EPS Estimate
$5.84
Consensus analyst estimateRevenue Estimate
$10.84 B
Consensus analyst estimateNext Earnings Call
Expected Date
January 25, 2027
EPS Estimate
$5.88
Consensus analyst estimateRevenue Estimate
$10.33 B
Consensus analyst estimateInstitutional Put/Call Ratio
Compares institutional put options with call options. At 1.49, the ratio is above 1, so institutions hold more puts than calls. That is a more cautious stance.
| Put/Call Ratio | 1.4851▲ 82.69% |
|---|---|
| Total Calls | 7,070▼ 99.76% |
| Total Puts | 10,500▼ 99.46% |
Institutional Ownership
Holdings and activity of institutional investors.
| Ownership % | 3.50%▼ 76.81% |
|---|---|
| Total Invested | $1.87B▼ 95.42% |
| Investors Holding | 618▼ 996.00% |
About Nucor Corp.
33,000 employees
CEO: Leon Topalian
Nucor Corporation, established in 1958 and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, stands as a major producer and supplier of steel and a wide variety of steel-derived products. Its comprehensive operations are organized into three p...