On Tuesday, Nucor said that for its quarter ending September 29, 2012 (Q3), it anticipates earnings to be in the range of $0.30 to $0.35 per diluted share, down from $0.57 per share in Q3 2011 but similar to Q2 2012 earnings of $0.35 per diluted share. Nucor said that the expected drop stems from decreased operating performance at its steel mills, which experienced decreased profitability, particularly at the sheet mills, compared to Q2. Additionally, lower steel mill margins are primarily the result of rising imports, which began trending up at the end of 2011 and continued through the first nine months of 2012. Nucor also said that slowing economic growth both domestically and globally are also factors and volatility in scrap prices, together with a combination of political and economic uncertainty in global markets that affected steel buyer confidence, also disrupted supply chain stocking levels.
Additionally, the company noted that the projected lower results include the negative impact of approximately $26 million of inventory purchase accounting adjustments related to the acquisition of Skyline Steel and a loss on the sale of the assets of Nucor Wire Products Pennsylvania, Inc. of $17.6 million.