Nucor expects slimmer profits in early 2025

Recycled-content steelmaker Nucor Corp. says it expects to be profitable in the first quarter of this year, although less so than the previous quarter or one year earlier. Meanwhile, United States Steel Corp., one of America’s two remaining blast furnace operators, says it will lose money early this year.

In its first quarter 2025 guidance note to investors, North Carolina-based Nucor says it its earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of 45 to 55 cents per diluted share, with the total brought down in part by what it calls one-time charges pertaining to the closure of two facilities in its steel products segment.

That range represents less than half of Nucor’s $1.22 earnings per diluted share in the fourth quarter of last year and will amount to about 15 percent of the $3.46 EPS figure from the first quarter of 2024.

“We expect earnings in the steel mills segment in the first quarter of 2025 to be in line with the fourth quarter of 2024,” says Nucor.

While competing electric arc furnace (EAF) mill operator Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) recently credited its metals recycling operations as assisting that firm’s profitability outlook this quarter, Nucor says earnings created by its raw materials segment “are expected to decrease in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 due to lower margins at our direct-reduced iron (DRI) facilities.”

While EAF operators like Nucor and SDI remain profitable, Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel and its fellow blast furnace/basic oxygen furnace (BOF) mill operator Cleveland-Cliffs have been reporting red ink in recent months.

U.S. Steel, which is awaiting the outcome of a bid to be purchased by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp., predicts it will lose from 49 to 53 cents per diluted share in this year’s first quarter. In the midst of the red ink, the company’s CEO points to its recycled-content Big River Steel complex in Arkansas as a bright spot.

“Our Mini Mill segment should see a sequential improvement based on increasing volumes from both Big River Steel (BRS) and Big River 2 (BR2),” says U.S. Steel president and CEO David B. Burritt.

“We remain extremely pleased with the outstanding customer feedback on the product quality of shipments from BR2 as it progresses toward full operating capacity and free cash flow generation this year,” adds the CEO. “BR2 is expected to make a significant contribution to our 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).”

Looking at the wider steel industry and corporate landscape, Burritt remarks, “We applaud President [Donald J.] Trump’s leadership and advocacy for the American steel industry in his recent tariff announcements. We continue to assess the benefit we expect from these tariff policies. Combined with the partnership with Nippon Steel, which includes investment commitments, technology transfer and innovation, U. S. Steel’s future is extremely bright.”

Nucor says it plans to release its earnings on Monday, April 28, and will host a conference call the following day. U.S. Steel has not yet provided a timetable for its first quarter earnings report.