Nucor — Financial Results
Earnings Fell in 2025, Driven by Weaker Steel Products Pricing
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Net earnings | $1.74B | $2.03B |
| Earnings per diluted share | $7.52 | $8.46 |
| Net profit margin | 5.4% | 6.6% |
| Return on equity | 8.5% | 9.8% |
Nucor earned less in 2025 than in 2024, with the biggest drag coming from its steel products segment — the division that makes finished goods like joists, deck, and metal buildings. Average selling prices there dropped 6%, from $2,510 to $2,348 per ton, squeezing margins particularly at joist, deck, and rebar fabrication businesses. The steel mills segment actually improved, as higher volumes and better metal margins (the gap between what steel sells for and what scrap costs) offset the weakness elsewhere.
Steel Mills Ran Harder in 2025, With Historically High Order Backlogs
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Steel mill utilization rate | 83% | 76% |
| Total outside tons shipped | 26.6M | 24.8M |
| Average steel mill price/ton | $1,008 | $1,013 |
Nucor's mills shipped 7% more steel to outside customers while keeping prices essentially flat. Utilization — how much of available capacity was actually being used — jumped from 76% to 83%, a meaningful step up for a capital-intensive business. Management noted that order backlogs at year-end 2025 were at historically high levels, which is an encouraging signal heading into 2026.
Capital Spending Is Heavy as Major New Facilities Come Online
Nucor spent $3.42 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from $3.17 billion in 2024, with the largest projects being a new sheet mill in West Virginia, a melt shop expansion in Arizona, and a galvanizing line in South Carolina. These projects are still in their early stages, and pre-operating and start-up costs (losses from facilities not yet running at full efficiency) consumed $496 million in 2025, down from $594 million in 2024 — a sign these investments are gradually maturing. Capital spending is expected to step down to roughly $2.50 billion in 2026.
Cash Position Declined but the Balance Sheet Remains Solid
| Metric | Dec 31, 2025 | Dec 31, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash & short-term investments | $2.70B | $4.14B |
| Working capital | $7.76B | $7.50B |
| Current ratio | 2.9 | 2.5 |
| Debt-to-capital ratio | 24.4% | — |
Cash dropped by about $1.4 billion, partly because Nucor rebuilt inventories and receivables as volumes rose, and partly due to continued heavy investment spending. The company also refinanced $1 billion of maturing debt, issuing new bonds at 4.65% and 5.10%. Despite lower cash, the current ratio (a measure of short-term financial health, where higher is stronger) actually improved, and the debt load remains conservative at 24.4% of total capital.
Management Expects All Three Segments to Improve in Q1 2026
Nucor guided for earnings growth in the first quarter of 2026 across all three segments, with the largest improvement expected in steel mills due to higher volumes and better realized prices. This is a notable statement given the weaker 2025 results, and it aligns with the historically high backlogs reported at year-end. Scrap prices — the key input cost — were described as stable entering 2026, which supports margin visibility in the near term.