Shares of Nucor (NUE) fell in after-hours trading after the steelmaker reported earnings for its third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. Earnings per share came in at $1.49, which missed analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.50 per share. In addition, sales decreased by 15.3% year-over-year, with revenue hitting $7.44 billion. Nevertheless, this beat analysts’ expectations by $210 million.
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Looking forward, Nucor expects lower net earnings for Q4 2024 compared to the $1.05 per share reported in Q3 2024. The main reason for this drop is the decline in both prices and volumes in the steel mills segment. Similarly, the steel products segment is also expected to see reduced earnings due to the same factors.
However, the raw materials segment is projected to show improved earnings in Q4 when excluding the impairment charge from Q3 2024 for certain non-current assets.
Share Repurchases and Dividends
In the third quarter of 2024, Nucor repurchased about 2.5 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $156.07 per share. Year-to-date, the company has bought back around 11 million shares at an average price of $172.36 per share. In total, Nucor has returned $2.29 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends in the first nine months of 2024.
As of September 28, 2024, the company still has $1.42 billion available for future repurchases under its existing buyback program, which has no expiration date.
On September 12, 2024, Nucor’s Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.54 per share. This dividend will be paid out on November 8, 2024, to stockholders who held shares as of September 27, 2024. Impressively, this marks the company’s 206th consecutive quarterly cash dividend.
Is NUE a Good Stock to Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on NUE stock based on six Buys, three Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 13% rally in its share price over the past year, the average NUE price target of $181.43 per share implies 16.22% upside potential.
