Nucor Corporation today announced consolidated net earnings of $108.9 million for the second quarter of 2020. By comparison, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $20.3 million for the first quarter of 2020 and $386.5 million for the second quarter of 2019.
In the first half of 2020, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $129.2 million, compared with consolidated net earnings of $888.3 million in the first half of 2019.
In a press release, the company said that although overall market conditions were challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, demand in nonresidential construction markets was resilient during the second quarter of 2020. The performance of Nucor’s steel mills segment in the second quarter of 2020 decreased compared to the first quarter of 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sheet and plate mills were the most negatively impacted facilities due to weak oil and gas market activity and customer production disruptions. The performance of the company’s raw materials segment in the second quarter of 2020 marginally improved compared to the first quarter of 2020 due to better than forecasted June performance.
As for a Q3 outlook, the company said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause uncertainty in overall market conditions entering the third quarter of 2020. At this point, Nucor said it believes earnings in the third quarter of 2020 will be similar to the second quarter of 2020. The company expects another strong quarter for downstream products segment due to the continued resiliency of nonresidential construction markets.
The steel mills segment's performance in the third quarter of 2020 is expected to be similar to the second quarter of 2020. Nonresidential construction market conditions continue to benefit Nucor’s bar and structural mills, but market conditions for sheet and plate mills remain challenged and average selling prices remain depressed, the company said. The performance of Nucor’s raw materials segment in the third quarter of 2020 is expected to decrease compared to the second quarter of 2020 due to depressed pricing for raw materials.