Nucor chief says steel orders strongest in his 31-year career as profit doubles
Nucor Chairman and CEO Leon Topalian said demand for the steelmaker's products is the best he has witnessed in three decades at the firm, as third-quarter sales climbed 32% to $11.25 billion and net income more than doubled to $1.32 billion.
The company’s mills shipped more than 7.2 million tons of steel, a volume that set a record for the third quarter running. Earnings per share under GAAP reached $5.80, narrowly missing the $5.828 analysts had forecast. Nucor stock changed hands around $266.86 on Wednesday, October 28, leaving it up 57.53% for the year to date.
Topalian predicted that 2026 would rank as Nucor’s third-strongest financial year ever and suggested 2027 could surpass it. He credited the gains to demand spread across many sectors, noting that data centers now account for roughly 15% of the firm’s order book. He also pointed to robust activity tied to semiconductors and technology equipment, natural-gas-fired power stations, terminals for exporting liquefied natural gas, nuclear facilities, utility providers, pharmaceutical makers, shipbuilders, defense-related spending, and producers of appliances and HVAC systems. He noted a sharp rebound in orders for heavy machinery as well. Together, these areas pushed the company’s steel products order backlog up by about 25%.
The share of the US market held by imported steel climbed from 14% to 17%, a shift Topalian linked in part to a sharp increase in deliveries from South Korea, even as Section 232 tariffs on steel imports remain in place.
President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Laxton pointed to infrastructure work such as border-wall construction and stadium projects, along with a wave of reshoring and factory investment encouraged by federal tax, trade and regulatory measures. He noted that utility companies are projected to spend nearly $1.4 trillion over the coming five years. Shipments of tubular products climbed 82% compared with the prior year, while the order backlog for towers and structural components more than doubled year to date, now extending out to the first quarter of 2028.
Why it matters: Robust Nucor steel demand and an expanding backlog at one of the largest US steelmakers can point to broader strength in industrial and infrastructure activity, a signal traders often track for clues about economic momentum and possible moves in metals and commodity markets.
Source: Yahoo Finance