CMC reports profits, wider margins in late 2025

CMC, an Irving, Texas-based company that produces steel and building products and operates a network of scrapyards, has reported more than $177 million in earnings for its financial quarter covering September to November 2025.

The profitable result in what is the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year contrasts sharply with the more than $175 million lost in the same time frame in 2024. At that time, CMC was making payments after losing a restraint of trade lawsuit.

In the months that started its new fiscal year, CMC says it capitalized on favorable market conditions across the North American footprint through solid operational execution and enhanced commercial discipline.

“Looking at our first quarter financial results, we achieved substantial improvement on a year-over-year basis,” CMC President and CEO Peter Matt says. “Steel products metal margins increased sequentially for the third consecutive quarter, reaching their highest level in nearly three years, and have the potential to move higher based on favorable market dynamics. “

The company operates several recycled electric arc furnace mills and a network of metals recycling facilities in the United States and one steel mill in Poland.

In recent years, the company has been expanding its presence in downstream steel and concrete construction products, partially through acquisitions. Those companies had been combined into CMC’s Emerging Businesses Group, which in 2026 has been renamed as the Construction Solutions Group.

“Based on what we see today, and the developing economic trends that should drive construction activity well into the future, we are excited about the long-term outlook and believe CMC's strategic focus positions us to reap significant benefits,” Matt says.

In its metals operations, CMC says demand for products made by its North America Steel Group remained stable during the recently completed quarter, with average daily shipments of finished steel products virtually unchanged from both the prior year period and the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.

“The pipeline of potential future construction projects remained healthy as indicated by CMC’s downstream bidding activity and the elevated level of the Dodge Momentum Index, which measures the value of projects entering the planning phase," the company says.

In late 2025, CMC says margins on steel products maintained an upward trajectory, increasing by $53 per ton on a sequential basis.

From September through November 2025, the average selling price for its steel products improved by $57 per ton compared with the June through August quarter, while scrap costs were stable, according to CMC. As a result of solid domestic market dynamics, CMC’s average selling price for steel products increased by more than $145 per ton relative to the monthly low reached in early fiscal 2025.

While mostly citing positive news in its steel-related operations, CMC says its balance sheet was hindered by lower margins over scrap in the sale of some of its downstream products.

Overall, however, CMC's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin for its North America Steel Group was 17.7 percent in fall 2025, up from 12.3 percent one year earlier.

“We expect consolidated core EBITDA in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 to decline modestly from first quarter levels due to a normal seasonal slowdown within our key markets, the impact of which will be partially offset by the addition of CMC's recently acquired precast [concrete] businesses," Matt says.

“Segment adjusted EBITDA for our North America Steel Group is anticipated to be lower sequentially due to normal seasonal volume trends and the impact of planned maintenance outages, while steel products metal margin is expected to remain relatively stable.

“The first quarter marked an excellent start to fiscal 2026, and based on where we stand today, CMC is well positioned to deliver strong results for the remainder of the year. Looking out longer term, we seek to create significant value for our shareholders by remaining focused on executing our strategic plan, which we expect to deliver meaningful and sustained enhancements to our margins, earnings, cash flow generation and return on capital.”