Nucor Corporation reported Thursday its guidance for Q1 2013 (ended March 30, 2013). Nucor anticipates earnings to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.25 per diluted share, a substantial drop from Q1 2012 earnings of $0.46 per diluted share and Q4 2012 earnings of $0.43 per diluted share.
Operating performance in the steel mills segment is flat compared to Q4 2012. This reflects weakening performance in sheet steel offset by improved profitability for structural steel. Overall, the steel mills did not experience the seasonal improvement that is typical in the first quarter of the year.
The downstream steel products segment experienced a typical seasonal slowdown in Q1, and Nucor therefore expects to report a modest loss for that segment following three straight quarters of profitable operating performance. The raw materials segment is also expected to report weaker results due to an unplanned 18 day outage at the Trinidad Direct Reduced Iron facility and weather-related effects negatively impacting the flow of scrap into the scrap processing business.
Nucor said that it continues to be cautiously optimistic about non-residential construction markets in 2013 as they continue to improve slowly from historically low levels. The strongest end markets continue to be in manufactured goods including energy and automotive. Import levels and general economic and political uncertainty continue to negatively affect the company's overall business, according to a press release.
