Nucor nets $4.5B in 2023, down 40 percent from previous year

Electric arc furnace steelmaker and recycler says it expects “another strong year” in 2024.

nucor mill booth
In 2023, Nucor says the overall average operating rates at its mills checked in at 78 percent, above the United States national average of 75.4 percent.
Photo courtesy of Nucor Corp.

Nucor Corp. has reported year-end and fourth-quarter 2023 earnings that are below levels from the prior quarter and the fourth quarter of 2023. Nonetheless, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based electric arc furnace (EAF) steel producer and recycling facility operator enjoyed an overall profitable quarter and year, finishing more than $4.5 billion in the black in 2023.

In last year’s fourth quarter, the company’s net earnings of $785.4 million represented a 29.5 percent decline from the $1.14 billion earned the prior quarter and a 30.2 percent drop from the $1.26 billion netted in the fourth quarter of 2022.

For the full year 2023, Nucor’s net earnings of $4.52 billion, or $18 per diluted share, compared with consolidated net earnings of $7.61 billion in 2022, or $28.79 per diluted share. The net earnings figure represented a 40.6 percent decline.

“The Nucor team delivered a strong finish to 2023, which represents the third-most-profitable year in our company’s history,” Nucor President and CEO Leon Topalian says.

“Nucor’s strategy to grow our core steelmaking capabilities and expand beyond into steel-adjacent business lines continues to deliver strong results. Over the past four years, Nucor has generated an average annual return on equity of 33 percent and has returned approximately $9.7 billion to its shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

“We remain optimistic that Nucor’s best days are ahead of us, with a resilient United States economy and steel-intensive megatrends driving increased demand for our products. With our strong balance sheet and broad array of sustainable steel solutions, we believe Nucor is unparalleled with respect to its ability to leverage these market drivers for continued growth.”

The company expects 2024 to be another strong year as Nucor executes its strategy to grow the core and expand its portfolio of solutions.

The company expects its capital deployment activity to increase in 2024 with planned capital expenditures of $3.5 billion, continued evaluation of acquisitions and share repurchases set to outpace the prior year.

In the year just concluded, each of Nucor’s business units reported slimmer profits. That includes its raw materials business unit, which hosts the David J. Joseph network of scrap yards.

In 2023, the Nucor raw materials unit netted $253.3 million, down about 49 percent from the $496.8 million earned in 2022.

The company’s scrap-fed steel mills business unit saw its profits drop similarly last year, falling 48.4 percent from nearly $7.2 billion in 2022 to about $3.7 billion last year.

“The average scrap and scrap substitute cost per gross ton used in the full year 2023 was $421, a 14 percent decrease compared to $492 in the full year 2022," Nucor says.

The company's overall average 2023 operating rates at its mills checked in at 78 percent compared with 77 percent in 2022. Nucor’s 78 percent 2023 rate finishes above an overall 2023 U.S. mill capability utilization rate of 75.4 percent, as reported by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute.

However, Nucor's capacity rate in last year’s fourth quarter was 74 percent, down from a 77 percent rate in the prior quarter.

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