Nucor Corporation today announced guidance for its first quarter ending March 30, 2019. Nucor expects first quarter earnings to be in the range of $1.45 to $1.50 per diluted share, which is a decrease compared to fourth quarter 2018 earnings of $2.07 per diluted share and an increase relative to first quarter of 2018 earnings of $1.10 per diluted share.
In a press release, the company said: “We expect earnings of the steel mills segment in the first quarter of 2019 to decrease from the fourth quarter of 2018 due primarily to lower average selling prices and margins in our sheet mill group. We believe that sheet pricing reached the low point during the first quarter and are encouraged by the impact of recent price increases. Additionally, we are experiencing shipment delays to construction customers of our steel mills and steel products segments due to an unusually wet winter season.”
Nucor added that the performance of the raw materials segment is expected to decrease in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, “due to margin compression in our DRI businesses, which have experienced declining average selling prices since the fourth quarter of 2018.”
Additionally, the company expects profitability of the steel products segment in the first quarter of 2019 to be similar to the fourth quarter of 2018.