Nucor Corp (NUE)
🔔 Watch stock
Nucor is America's largest steelmaker — and a Dividend King: the base dividend has been raised in every single year since payments began in 1973, and February 2026 brought the 212th consecutive quarterly dividend. Our in-house Dividend Aristocrats scanner ranks the stock second in its U.S. selection (as of July 18, 2026). We read the annual reports (10-K) and the quarterly report (10-Q) as of April 4, 2026: earnings per share that melted from $28.79 to $7.52 before snapping back to $3.23 in a single quarter, global overcapacity worth eight times U.S. production, a cyberattack that idled mills — and a dividend that refuses to notice any of it. Not investment advice — just the owner's manual for a quality seal that is easy to misread.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 4 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralGeprüft am 18.07.2026 gegen die beiden jüngsten Geschäftsberichte (10-K 2025, eingereicht 25.02.2026, und 10-K 2024, eingereicht 27.02.2025) sowie die vier jüngsten Quartalsberichte (10-Q, eingereicht 13.05.2026, 12.11.2025, 13.08.2025 und 14.05.2025): In keinem der sechs ausgewerteten SEC-Filings von Nucor findet sich auch nur eine einzige Erwähnung von „artificial intelligence“, „machine learning“, „generative“, „LLM“ oder „AI“ — weder als Umsatzquelle noch als operativer Einsatz noch als Geschäftsrisiko. Ergänzend geprüft wurde das aktuelle Proxy Statement (DEF 14A vom 27.03.2026); dort ist der einzige „AI“-Treffer der Firmenname „Tempus AI, Inc.“ als anderweitiges Board-Mandat einer Direktorin, also ohne jeden Bezug zu Nucors Geschäft. Der Stahlhersteller berichtet über Stahl-Überkapazitäten, Handelspolitik, Rechenzentrums-Baustahl-Nachfrage und einen Cybervorfall, führt aber nichts davon auf KI zurück — dokumentierter Negativ-Befund, daher „neutral“.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-13 · 10-Q 2025-11-12 · 10-Q 2025-08-13 · 10-Q 2025-05-14 · 10-K 2026-02-25 · 10-K 2025-02-27
Rated on July 18, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 1.23 | -61.40 | 7,076 | -8.20 | 4.10 | 733 | -146 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.67 | -80.70 | 7,830 | -3.80 | 2.00 | 364 | -495 |
| 2025: Q2 | 2.61 | -2.80 | 8,456 | 4.70 | 7.10 | 732 | -222 |
| 2025: Q3 | 2.62 | 148.50 | 8,521 | 14.50 | 7.10 | 1,339 | 532 |
| 2025: Q4 | 1.65 | 34.40 | 7,687 | 8.60 | 4.90 | 799 | -3 |
| 2026: Q1 | 3.24 | 383.80 | 9,496 | 21.30 | 7.80 | 886 | 225 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Base dividend raised every year since 1973, 212th consecutive quarterly dividend (February 2026), a 2025 payout ratio of only about 29 percent, and a commitment to return at least 40 percent of net earnings including buybacks — the streak is armored against steel troughs by a low ratio and balance-sheet strength (10-K 2025).
Funded debt to capital of 24.4 percent (end of 2025), current ratio of 2.9, $2.48 billion in cash and short-term investments (April 4, 2026), Altman Z near 10, the highest ratings of any North American steel producer (A-/A3/A-) — though the cash pile has nearly halved since the end of 2024 ($4.14 billion) under the capex supercycle.
Earnings per share fell from $28.79 (2022) to $7.52 (2025) and revenue from $41.5 billion to $30.7 billion (2024) before 2025/Q1 2026 turned — Nucor's results hang on metal margin and steel prices it does not control; the OECD puts global overcapacity at eight times U.S. production.
Q1 2026: revenue up 21 percent to $9.5 billion, net earnings of $743 million ($3.23 per share) after $156 million a year earlier, record shipments, 86 percent utilization, $886 million in operating cash flow, historically high backlogs (10-Q as of 04/04/2026, 10-K 2025).
Imports' share of the U.S. finished steel market fell from over 22 to about 15 percent (Q1 2025 → Q1 2026) on Section 232 tariffs and trade cases — a real tailwind, but one that depends on political decisions that can change; China is shifting capacity to third countries to circumvent tariffs (10-K 2025, 10-Q).
Trailing P/E near 24 (near 15 on 2026 estimates), price-to-book near 2.6, up 47 percent year to date and only about 10 percent below the all-time high (data as of mid-July 2026) — much of the comeback is priced in; a dividend yield of roughly 0.9 percent does not support the valuation.
Nucor is proof that Dividend Kingship and cyclicality are no contradiction: the base dividend has risen every year since 1973 because, at roughly 29 percent of 2025 earnings, it is deliberately kept small — while earnings per share fell 74 percent in three years and then quadrupled in a single quarter in early 2026. Against that stand a fortress balance sheet with A ratings, a capex supercycle around the $4 billion West Virginia mill, and a valuation that already largely pays for the comeback after a 47 percent year-to-date gain. Whoever buys here buys the discipline — and carries the cycle. Not investment advice.
- NUE reached the research list through the in-house Dividend Aristocrats scanner: rank 2 of the U.S. selection (as of July 18, 2026); simultaneous hits in "Martin Zweig: growth with discipline" and "Altman-Z: fortress balance sheet" — quality and balance-sheet strength confirm each other across scanners.
- On counting the streak: the annual report (10-K) for 2025 states "increased its base cash dividend every year since the Company began paying dividends in 1973"; our scanner carries Nucor with 51 years of increases (curated list, as of June 2026). The dividend yield of roughly 0.9 percent refers to the $2.24 annual run rate at a share price around $249 (data as of mid-July 2026).
- Scanner metrics (P/E, P/S, Piotroski, Altman Z) use trailing twelve-month figures; the Q1 2026 earnings jump is included, the remaining 2026 quarters naturally are not. Analyses are evergreen; daily prices are not a buy argument.
About the Company
Nucor Corporation fertigt und verkauft Stahl und Stahlprodukte. Das Unternehmen ist in drei Segmenten tätig: Steel Mills, Steel Products und Raw Materials.
| Employees | 33,000 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Charlotte, NC |
| Website | nucor.com |
| IPO Date | 1. Sep 1983 |
| Next Earnings | 27. Jul 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Leon J. Topalian | Chairman of the Board & CEO | 1968 |
| Stephen D. Laxton | President & COO | 1971 |
| K. Rex Query | Executive Vice President of Strategy | 1966 |
| John L. Sullivan | Executive VP, CFO & Treasurer | 1974 |
| Chris Jacobi | Director of Investor Relations | – |
| Douglas R. Wilner | President of Corporate Legal Affairs & General Counsel | – |
| Elizabeth Bledsoe | President of Human Resources & Talent | 1973 |
| D. Chad Utermark | Executive Vice President of New Markets & Innovation | 1969 |
| Gregory J. Murphy | Executive VP & Advisor | 1964 |
| Allen C. Behr | Executive Vice President of Raw Materials | 1975 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 20, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.