Nucor Corporation · NUE · FY2024 Q4 · Calendar Q1 2025

Nucor Holds Growth Plan Steady Amid Margin and Trade Risks

The supplied analysis supports a constructive but conditional view: Nucor’s growth projects and higher-margin downstream businesses can strengthen earnings over time, while margin pressure, startup costs, demand uncertainty and trade-policy outcomes are important counterweights.

Reported After market closeNYSEBasic Materials $58.56B market cap
80quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS — Consensus $0.94
EPS surprise — Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue — Consensus $6.77B
Revenue surprise — Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

event-close to next-session close
Stock move +3.8% Event window
SPY move +0.9% Same window
Abnormal move +2.9% Stock minus SPY
Volume 2.2× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +6.3% Up to 20 sessions
NUESPY benchmark

Ask FN2 about NUE FY2024 Q4

Transcript, numbers and history already loaded

Free account. Your question opens in FN2 with this report's transcript and numbers attached.

Transcript intelligence

What changed

Relative to the prior-quarter analysis, guidance sentiment moved from lowered to maintained and the capex outlook moved from increasing to stable. The current analysis adds progress on major projects, a focus on value-added products, and management’s emphasis on trade protection and disciplined capital allocation.

Guidance delta

Guidance sentiment was maintained versus lowered in the prior-quarter analysis. Management expects modest 2025 steel-demand growth, while Q1 earnings may be slightly lower without one-off tax benefits.

Key takeaways

  • Management described major growth projects as on schedule, with a focus on higher-margin value-added products.
  • The company emphasized strong cash generation, a robust balance sheet and continued shareholder returns.
  • Trade policy remains central to the outlook, with management seeking stronger protection against unfair imports.
  • The near-term setup is mixed: demand growth is expected to be modest, while pricing pressure and startup costs remain constraints.

Management priorities

  • Commission and ramp the West Virginia sheet mill, Lexington rebar micro-mill and Kingman melt shop.
  • Expand tower, structures, overhead-door and insulated-panel platforms.
  • Increase the mix of higher-margin sheet, plate and downstream products.
  • Maintain disciplined capital allocation and shareholder returns while pursuing trade-policy support.

Follow NUE with an agent that reads every filing, transcript, and price print. Free to start.

Try FN2 free

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
NUE EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q1 '24 estimate $3.66 Q1 '24 actual $3.46, miss Q2 '24 estimate $2.35 Q2 '24 actual $2.68, beat Q3 '24 estimate $1.50 Q3 '24 actual $1.49, match Q2 '25 estimate $2.55 Q2 '25 actual $2.60, beat Q3 '25 estimate $2.18 Q3 '25 actual $2.63, beat Q4 '25 estimate $1.91 Q4 '25 actual $1.73, miss Q1 '26 estimate $2.82 Q1 '26 actual $3.23, beat Q2 '26 estimate $4.46 Q2 '26 actual $4.84, beat Q3 '26 estimate $5.84 Q4 '26 estimate $5.30 Q1 '27 estimate $5.58 Q2 '27 estimate $5.39
Show 1 more >

Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold32 ratings
Bullish1959.4%
Neutral1031.2%
Bearish39.4%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$258.11Current
$110Low
$202.48Average
$306High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 25, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Barclays Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 19, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 9, 2026
Keybanc Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 5, 2026
Wells Fargo Overweight OverweightMaintainSep 18, 2026
Freedom Broker Hold BuyDowngradeSep 18, 2026
Show 27 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $258.11. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
BarclaysRichard Garchitorena$306$256.29 +18.6%Oct 19, 2026
KeyBancAnalyst unavailable$286$240.39 +10.8%Oct 5, 2026
Wells FargoTimna Tanners$280$265.14 +8.5%Sep 18, 2026
BMO CapitalAnalyst unavailable$295$263.18 +14.3%Jul 29, 2026
Wells FargoAnalyst unavailable$297$265.62 +15.1%Jul 29, 2026
See 42 more

Track every rating change on NUE the moment it posts. Free to start.

Start free

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Nucor Corporation is a prominent producer and distributor of steel and diverse steel-related products. Within its Steel Mills division, the company manufactures a comprehensive range of steel goods. These include various sheet steel types like hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized, alongside plate steel. It also produces structural components such as wide-flange beams, beam blanks, H-piling, and sheet piling. Furthermore, this segment supplies bar steel products, encompassing blooms, billets, concrete reinforcing bars, merchant bars, and specialized bar quality items. Beyond manufacturing, Nucor's steel mills are involved in steel trading and the distribution of rebar. Its clientele primarily consists of steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Steel Products segment provides an array of manufactured steel goods, such as hollow structural section tubing, electrical conduits, steel racking, joists and girders, steel decks, and fabricated concrete reinforcing steel.…

Historical context

All NUE earnings

Basic Materials peers this season

Latest reports in the same sector

Latest beats and misses

Who reports next

Get the NUE recap when the next report posts

One email per quarter with the scorecard, the market reaction and what changed on the call. No account needed.

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2025-01-13T00:03:16.499918+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-25T00:40:49.721767+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-25T00:40:49.718848+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-25. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.