Attractive Price-to-Earnings Ratio
Low Price-to-Sales Ratio
Strong Return on Equity
Healthy Operating Profit Margin
Strong Liquidity Ratios
Low Debt Levels
🏭 Strong Safety Culture
💰 Solid Financial Performance
🔧 Diverse Product Portfolio
🚀 Growth Initiatives
🌱 Strong Demand Outlook
High Price-to-Free Cash Flow Ratio
Low Net Profit Margin
Moderate Cash Position
📉 Margin Pressure
⚖️ Trade Challenges
Nucor demonstrates strong business quality through its safety culture, solid financial performance, and diverse product portfolio. However, it faces challenges from margin pressures and trade issues. Looking ahead, the company has promising growth prospects with significant investments and an optimistic demand outlook, despite concerns regarding trade dynamics.
Analysis Date: January 28, 2025
Last Updated: April 12, 2025
Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) values provide a view of the company's performance over the last year.
Benjamin Graham's value investing approach focuses on finding stocks with a significant margin of safety between their intrinsic value and market price.
Intrinsic Value
Estimated fair value based on Graham's formula
$333.50
Current Market Price: $101.25
IV/P Ratio: 3.29x (>1.0 indicates undervalued)
Margin of Safety
Gap between intrinsic value and market price
70.0%
Graham recommended a minimum of 20-30% margin of safety
Higher values indicate a greater potential discount to fair value
Graham Criteria Checklist
Benjamin Graham's value investing checklist for NUE
Positive earnings (5+ years)
Dividend history (5+ years)
P/E ratio ≤ 20 (11.92)
P/B ratio ≤ 1.5 (1.19)
Current ratio ≥ 2.0 (2.51x)
Long-term debt < Net current assets (0.76x)
Margin of safety (70.0%)
NUE meets all Graham criteria
Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) values provide a view of the company's performance over the last year.
NUE's return on equity (ROE) of 9.87% demonstrates effective use of equity financing to generate profits, which is a positive indicator of management performance.
The operating profit margin of 9.69% indicates that NUE is able to maintain a good level of profitability from its operations, which is a positive sign for sustainability.
A net profit margin of 6.60% indicates that while NUE is profitable, it may not be as efficient in converting revenue into actual profit compared to industry peers.
Profitability metrics measure a company's ability to generate earnings relative to its revenue, operating costs, and other relevant metrics. Higher values generally indicate better performance.
Return on Equity (ROE)
Measures how efficiently a company uses its equity to generate profits
9.87%
Higher values indicate better returns for shareholders
TTM (as of 2025-04-16)
Return on Assets (ROA)
Measures how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate profits
0.85%
Higher values indicate better asset utilization
TTM (as of 2025-04-16)
Gross Profit Margin
Percentage of revenue retained after accounting for cost of goods sold
13.39%
Higher values indicate better efficiency in production
TTM (as of 2025-04-16)
Net Profit Margin
Percentage of revenue retained after accounting for all expenses
6.60%
Higher values indicate better overall profitability
TTM (as of 2025-04-16)
The current ratio of 2.51 and quick ratio of 1.48 indicate that NUE has a strong liquidity position, allowing it to cover short-term liabilities without financial strain.
With a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, NUE maintains a conservative capital structure, reducing financial risk and enhancing stability.
The cash ratio of 0.71 indicates that while NUE has sufficient cash to meet some obligations, it may not have enough liquidity to cover all short-term liabilities in a crisis.
Financial health metrics assess a company's ability to meet its financial obligations and its overall financial stability.
Debt to Equity Ratio
Total debt divided by total equity
0.32x
Lower values indicate less financial leverage and risk
Less than 1.0 is conservative, 1.0-2.0 is moderate, >2.0 indicates high risk
Q4 2024
Current Ratio
Current assets divided by current liabilities
2.51x
Higher values indicate better short-term liquidity
Less than 1.0 is concerning, 1.0-2.0 is adequate, greater than 2.0 is good
Q4 2024
Nucor highlighted its commitment to safety, achieving the safest year in its history with the fewest recordable injuries. This focus on safety is seen as integral to operational success and employee wellbeing.
Nucor generated $1.22 per share in the fourth quarter and $8.46 for the full year, with EBITDA nearly reaching $4.4 billion. The company also returned over $2.7 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
Nucor's strategy includes investing in high-margin, value-added products and expanding into steel-adjacent businesses, positioning the company well in various markets such as automotive and construction.
Despite strong operational performance, the steel mill segment saw a 45% decrease in pre-tax earnings due to declining pricing and metal margins, highlighting vulnerability to market fluctuations.
Nucor is actively investing in significant growth initiatives, including a new sheet mill in West Virginia, which is expected to begin operations by the end of 2026 and target advanced automotive and construction markets.
The management anticipates modest growth in steel demand in 2025, driven by infrastructure and institutional construction, potentially benefiting Nucor's diversified product offerings.
Nucor continues to face challenges from unfairly traded imports, which could impact domestic pricing and profitability, necessitating ongoing advocacy for trade protections.