Steel Dynamics foresees profitable Q1

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has provided first quarter 2026 earnings guidance in the range of $2.73 to $2.77 per diluted share (EPS), a boost from fourth-quarter 2025 EPS of $1.82 and an increase of up to 92 percent from the $1.44 of EPS earned in the first quarter of 2025.

“First quarter 2026 profitability from the company’s steel operations is expected to be meaningfully higher compared to sequential fourth quarter results, driven by increased shipments and metal margin expansion across the platform, as average realized selling values increased more than scrap raw material costs,” says Fort Wayne, Indiana-based SDI, which operates recycled electric arc furnace steel mills.

The company says demand remains strong in several of its end markets for steel and building products, with the nonresidential construction, energy, automotive and industrial sectors among those exhibiting strong demand.

SDI also says first quarter 2026 earnings from its Omni (formerly OmniSource) metals recycling operations are expected to be higher compared with the prior quarter, based on significantly expanded metal margins driven by higher ferrous and nonferrous average selling values.

The company points to the impacts of an at times harsh winter on its recycling operations, saying its recycled metal shipments are expected to be somewhat lower in this year’s first quarter, with scrap flows negatively affected by winter weather conditions in January and February.

In the company’s downstream steel fabrication operations, SDI says higher shipments helped offset metal margin compression related to increased steel raw material input costs.

The company says customer order activity has significantly increased since the end of 2025, with its customer order backlog now more than 35 percent higher than it was one year earlier. SDI says its fabricated products order backlog now is extending well into the third quarter of 2026.

SDI cites commercial construction, data center and warehouse buildouts, manufacturing sector and health care industry construction as contributing to its sales of fabricated products, adding it expects further volume improvement throughout the year, with the support from U.S. infrastructure and other stimulus programs and continued onshoring.

“The aluminum team is continuing with the successful commissioning and startup of the company’s Columbus, Mississippi, aluminum flat rolled products mill," SDI says of its significant Aluminum Dynamics investment.

Aluminum Dynamics has produced finished products for the industrial and beverage can sectors, receiving product qualifications from can sheet consumers. The facility also produced and received qualifications for aluminum hot band for use in automotive applications.

The metals producer plans to release its first quarter 2026 earnings April 20 and will hold a conference call the following day to discuss the company’s performance.