Nucor Corporation announced Thursday that it expects first quarter 2015 results to be in the range of $0.10 to $0.15 per diluted share. This range is a decrease from the first quarter of 2014 earnings of $0.35 per diluted share and a decrease from the fourth quarter of 2014 earnings of $0.65 per diluted share.
Overall operating performance at the steel mills segment for the first quarter of 2015 is expected to decrease significantly compared to the fourth quarter of 2014 primarily due to lower selling prices and margins resulting from the exceptionally high level of imports flooding the domestic market, Nucor said in the statement.
However, the company expects that steel mill margins for all products should improve in the second quarter as it begins to realize the benefits of lower raw materials costs and selling prices begin to stabilize. Nucor also expects that although imports will subside in the second quarter, they will remain at excessively high levels.
Additionally, the company mentioned that the production operations of Nucor Steel Louisiana have remained suspended since the equipment failure related to the process gas heater occurred on November 2, 2014; the facility is expected to be operational before the end of the first quarter of 2015.