On December 16, North Carolina, US-based steelmaker Nucor Corporation said that the fourth quarter has confirmed the company's previous concerns as its products associated with residential and non-residential construction have continued to show "little, if any, strength" during the period, with rocketing scrap prices and the inability to realize sales price increases quickly enough to benefit the fourth quarter.
Nucor, providing guidance for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2010, recalled that it had stated in its qualitative guidance given in late October that "the fourth quarter may indeed turn out to be the most challenging quarter of the year."
Nucor expects fourth quarter results to be in the range of a loss of $0.10 to $0.15 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $0.07 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2010 and $0.18 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2009.
On the more positive side, the company said, "Utilization rates, while similar to the third quarter, are improving as we progress through the fourth quarter. In addition, we have been able to significantly raise prices for all steel mill products over the last 30 to 45 days. These increases are expected to have a positive impact during the first quarter. We are therefore cautiously optimistic regarding first quarter volume and pricing."
On the other hand, the steelmaker pointed out that the steelmaking facilities will continue to experience rising raw material costs during the winter months.