Nucor Corporation announced today consolidated net earnings of $233.8 million for the second quarter of 2016. By comparison, Nucor reported net earnings of $70.8 million for the first quarter of 2016 and net earnings of $124.8 million for the second quarter of 2015.
Nucor's consolidated net sales increased 14 percent to $4.25 billion in the second quarter of 2016 from $3.72 billion in the first quarter of 2016 and decreased 3 percent compared with $4.36 billion in the second quarter of 2015.
Total tons shipped to outside customers were 6,457,000 tons in the second quarter of 2016, a 5 percent increase from the first quarter of 2016 and a 7 percent increase from the second quarter of 2015. Total second quarter steel mill shipments increased 5 percent from the first quarter of 2016 and increased 11 percent from the second quarter of 2015. Second quarter downstream steel products shipments to outside customers increased 11 percent from the first quarter of 2016 and decreased 2 percent from the second quarter of 2015.
Overall operating rates at Nucor’s steel mills increased to 83 percent in the second quarter of 2016 as compared to 74 percent in the first quarter of 2016 and 73 percent in the second quarter of 2015. Operating rates for the first half of 2016 increased to 79 percent as compared to 69 percent for the first half of 2015.
In a statement, Nucor said: “We expect further strong improvement in earnings in the third quarter of 2016. Most of the quarter over quarter improvement will be in the steel mills segment, primarily in our sheet mills. The performance of the raw materials segment is expected to improve significantly in the third quarter of 2016 as compared to the second quarter of 2016 due primarily to improved performance at our DRI facilities. We expect increased profitability for our downstream products segment in the third quarter of 2016 as compared to the second quarter of 2016 due to the gradual improvement in nonresidential construction markets.”