Nucor Corporation today announced consolidated net earnings of $107.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. By comparison, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $275.0 million for the third quarter of 2019 and consolidated net earnings of $646.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2018.
For the full year 2019, Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of $1.27 billion compared to $2.36 billion in 2018.
Nucor's consolidated net sales decreased 6 percent to $5.13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with $5.46 billion in the third quarter of 2019 and decreased 18 percent compared with $6.30 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018.
A total of 6,486,000 tons were shipped to outside customers in the fourth quarter of 2019, a 1 percent decrease from the third quarter of 2019 and a 3 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2018. Total steel mill shipments in the fourth quarter of 2019 remained flat as compared to the third quarter of 2019 and decreased 2 percent as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Steel mill shipments to internal customers represented 21 percent of total steel mill shipments in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with 21 percent in the third quarter of 2019 and 19 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. Downstream steel product shipments to outside customers in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased 2 percent from the third quarter of 2019 and increased 8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2018.
For 2019, Nucor's consolidated net sales decreased 10 percent to $22.59 billion, compared with $25.07 billion for 2018. Total tons shipped to outside customers in 2019 were 26,532,000, a decrease of 5 percent from 2018, while the average sales price per ton decreased 5 percent from 2018.
In a press release, the company said the performance of the steel mills segment in the fourth quarter of 2019 decreased compared to the third quarter of 2019 as lower steel prices at the end of the third quarter impacted fourth quarter results. During the fourth quarter, domestic scrap metal prices rose markedly and our sheet, plate, structural and bar mills all implemented price increases, Nucor said.
As for an outlook on Q1 2020, Nucor said it expected earnings to increase as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. The company also expects a more stable pricing environment in 2020 after the “severe inventory destocking that occurred in 2019.” However, profitability of the steel products segment in the first quarter of 2020 is expected to decrease as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019 due to normal seasonality.