Nucor foresees reduced earnings in Q3

Charlotte, North Carolina-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Nucor Corp. is predicting a drop in earnings in this year’s third quarter of about 36 percent compared with the third quarter of last year.

The firm’s predicted $4.10 to $4.20 per share earnings also are down from the $5.81 per share it earned in the second quarter of this year.

“We expect earnings for the steel mills segment to decline in the third quarter [primarily] due to lower pricing, and to a lesser extent, volumes,” says Nucor.  The scrap-fed steelmaker also identifies its sheet mills as making the “largest impact on earnings.”

Nucor says earnings in its downstream steel products segment also are expected to decrease in the third quarter of this year compared with the prior quarter, and cites “lower realized prices and volumes.”

In its raw materials segment, which includes the David J. Joseph network of scrap yards, earnings also are expected to decrease compared with the prior quarter. Nucor identifies “margin compression at our direct-reduced iron (DRI) facilities and scrap processing operations” as the culprit.