Basic Materials

Nucor: Steel Mills Segment’s Earnings Expected to Increase 1Q Due to Higher Avg Selling Prices and Volumes.

Nucor stock is rising and shares of Cleveland-Cliffs are falling after an analyst argued the former steel maker deserves a better valuation than the latter. Citi analyst Alexander Hacking flipped his ratings on the stocks. He now rates Nucor shares at Buy instead of Hold, lifting his target for the stock price to $240 from $180. He kept his price target for Cliffs stock at $22 but lowered his rating to Hold from Buy. Cliffs’ “revenues have been as good as advertised (if not better) based on strong volumes, record [automotive] steel prices, and resilient hot rolled coil [pricing], but higher costs have led to underwhelming [earnings],” wrote Hacking. Hot-rolled coil, a benchmark steel product, is processed for use in car manufacturing. Cliffs is a significant provider of steel to auto makers. Cliffs is expected to earn about $1.50 a share in 2024, according to FactSet. That is better than

Citigroup analyst Alexander Hacking upgrades Nucor (NYSE:NUE) from Neutral to Buy and raises the price target from $180 to $240.

Nucor (NUE) said Wednesday its board approved $860 million for the construction of a new rebar factory in the Pacific Northwest region. The project will take two years to complete and will have a capacity of 650,000 tons per year. The company is also constructing a rebar factory in North Carolina.

Morgan Stanley Raises Price Target on Nucor (NYSE:NUE) to $187 From $154, Forecasts ‘Robust’ Cash Generation in Coming Years; Keeps Equalweight Rating.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We increase our 12-month target by $11 to $167, which assumes an EV/EBITDA of 7.5x our ’24 EBITDA estimate, a premium to NUE’s three-year avg. forward EV/EBITDA of 5.5x and above peers’ avg. forward EV/EBITDA of 6.6x. We raise our ’24 EPS estimate by $0.54 to $12.87 and initiate our ’25 EPS forecast at $12.10. NUE posts Q4 adj. EPS of $3.16 vs. $4.89, $0.33 above consensus, with in-line sales. Q4 avg. sales price fell 15% Y/Y but shipment volume rose 8% Y/Y. NUE is facing some very difficult comps in ’24 and we forecast a decline in adj. EPS of 28% in ’24 and 6% in ’25 (and adj. EBITDA declines of 23% in ’24 and 3% in ’25). NUE currently trades at a significant premium

Nucor acknowledges it was interested in acquiring some of United States Steel’s assets, but dropped out of the bidding near the end over concerns about the price. “Nucor took a hard look at some of the assets within the U.S. Steel portfolio,” CEO Leon Topalian says during a conference call. “But at the end of the day, we’re not going to overpay for any assets.” A deal proxy filed by U.S. Steel last week describes an unidentified company that analysts widely believe was Nucor as being interested in U.S. Steel’s Big River mill in Arkansas; its iron ore operation in Minnesota; and a steel rolling mill in California. Nucor up 5.2% at $185.77.

The following is a summary of the Nucor Corporation (NUE) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: Nucor reported Q4 consolidated net earnings of $785 million and an operating cash flow of over $1.5 billion. The Steel Mills Group contributed $588 million of pre-tax earnings, down 33% from Q3. The Steel Products segment delivered pre-tax earnings of $656 million, contributing half of the total earnings for Q4, and generated annual earnings of $3.4 billion. The Raw Materials segment reported a pre-tax loss of about $14 million. Nucor allocated $2.2 billion to capital spending and returned $2.1 billion to shareholders in 2023. Nucor’s quarterly cash dividend was increased by 6% to $0.54 per share. Debt-to-capital ratio is at 25% and debt-to-EBITDA ratio is less than 1%. Shipment volumes and pricing are expected to improve in Q1 2024. The company is planning higher capital spending of about $3.5 billion in 2024. Nucor

Nucor 4Q Average Sales Price Per Ton Down 15%.

Nucor 4Q Steel Mills Total Shipments 5.51M Tons.

Nucor Reports Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 PR Newswire CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 29, 2024 — Fourth quarter and full year 2023 diluted EPS of $3.16 and $18.00, respectively. — Fourth quarter and full year 2023 net earnings before noncontrolling interests of $872.8 million and $4.91 billion, respectively; EBITDA of $1.36 billion and $7.41 billion, respectively. — 2024 expected to be another strong year as Nucor executes its strategy to grow the core and expand its portfolio of solutions. — Capital deployment expected 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. CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) today announced consolidated net earnings of $785.4 million, or $3.16 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2023. By comparison, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $1.14 billion,

Nucor: Steel Mills Segment’s Earnings Are Expected to Increase in the 1Q 2024 Due to Higher Avg Selling Prices and Volumes.