Nucor expects quarter-on-quarter earnings boost

Nucor Corp., Charlotte, North Carolina, has announced guidance for the second quarter of this year that would have it earning nearly four times the profits this spring compared with earnings in the first quarter of 2025.

The company joins fellow recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) and metals recycling company Steel Dynamics Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana, in reporting a financial landscape that vastly improved for steelmakers this spring compared with the initial three months of the year.

Nucor expects second quarter earnings to be between $2.55 to $2.65 per diluted share compared with the company’s reported net earnings of 67 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2025.

“Earnings in the second quarter of 2025 are expected to increase across all three of our operating segments, with the largest increase in the steel mills segment,” the steelmaker says, which also operates the David J. Joseph network of metals recycling facilities.

Nucor credits higher average selling prices at its sheet and plate mills for the expected increase in its steel mills segment earnings.

Without providing detail, Nucor says its raw materials segment, which includes its scrap processing and trading activities, is expected to have increased earnings in the second quarter of 2025.

The firm's earnings in its steel products segment, which supplies materials largely to the construction sector, also are expected to increase in the second quarter of 2025 compared with the first quarter of 2025, citing a combination of stable overall pricing, higher volumes and lower average costs per ton.

Nucor's financial second quarter will end July 5, and the company will host a conference call the morning of July 29 to discuss its results.