Nucor guidance points to profitable Q1

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. has announced earnings guidance for this year’s first quarter that would bring increased earnings per share (EPS) for the company compared both with the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2025.

The company says it expects its first quarter 2026 earnings per diluted share (EPS) to be in the range of $2.70 to $2.80. That would represent an increase of up to 317 percent compared with the 67 cents of net EPS in the first quarter of 2025 and growth of up to  70 percent compared with the $1.64 of net EPS in the last three months of 2025.

Nucor says it earnings are expected to increase across all three of its operating segments in the quarter now underway compared with the one that ran from October through December of 2025.

The company says the largest income increase is occurring in its steel mills segment, consisting of recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) mills. The expected increase in that segment of earnings is attributable to “higher average selling prices and volumes across all product groups,” says Nucor.

The company says its raw materials segment, which includes direct-reduced iron (DRI) production and a sizable network of metals recycling facilities operating as part of its wholly owned David J. Joseph subsidiary, is expected to have “slightly higher earnings” in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the prior three months.

In its downstream steel and building products segment, Nucor says it expects improved earnings because of “increased volumes and stable average realized pricing.”

Tariffs placed on inbound steel and steel products by United States President Donald J. Trump have been credited for boosting the output and price of American steel for the past 12 months.

According to statistics gathered by the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), through March 14, 2026, the more than 18.6 million tons of steel made in the U.S. represents a 4.9 percent increase from the amount in the same time frame in 2025.

However, weekly output figures from the trade group could be tied to warning signals from manufacturers and the construction industry that the steel protection measures have not been good for them.

American steel output has declined in each of the three most recently completed weeks, according to AISI, dropping by 0.3 percent, 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent, consecutively.

Total output in the U.S. reached 1.817 million tons the week ending Feb. 21, but had drifted downward by a total of 2.36 percent to 1.774 million tons by the week ending March 14.

Nucor plans to release its earnings after the markets close on Monday, April 27, 2026, and says it will host a conference call the next morning to review those results.