Nucor Corporation (NUE) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending April 1, 2023

April 20, 2023 2:00 p.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to Nucor's First Quarter Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise and today's call is being recorded. After the speakers' prepared remarks, I will provide instructions for callers wishing to ask questions.

I would now like to introduce Jack Sullivan, General Manager of Nucor Investor Relations. You may begin your call.

Jack Sullivan – General Manager-IR

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Nucor's first quarter 2023 earnings review and business update. Leading our call today is Leon Topalian, Chair, President and CEO, along with Steve Laxton, Executive Vice President and CFO. We also have other members of Nucor's executive team with us, including Dave Sumoski, Chief Operating Officer; Al Behr, responsible for Plate and Structural Products; Noah Hanners over raw materials; John Hollatz, Bar Products and Fabrication; Doug Jellison, Corporate Strategy; Greg Murphy, Business Services, Sustainability and General Counsel; Dan Needham, Commercial Strategy; Rex Query, Sheet and Tubular Products; and Chad Utermark, New markets and Innovation.

This morning, we posted our earnings release and an updated slide deck to the Nucor Investor Relations website. We encourage you to access these materials, and we will cover portions of them during the call. Today's discussion will include the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Actual results may be different than forward-looking statements and involve risks outlined in our safe harbor statement and disclosed in Nucor's SEC filings. The appendix of today's presentation includes supplemental information and disclosures, along with a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures.

So with that, let's turn the call over to Leon.

Leon Topalian – Chair, President and CEO

Thanks, Jack, and welcome, everyone. I'd like to begin by thanking our 31,000 team members for delivering another strong quarter for our shareholders while continuing to deliver on our most important value, the health, safety and well-being of the entire Nucor family. We're coming off our fourth consecutive year setting new safety records and the team is off to a strong start again in 2023, ahead of last year's record performance through the first quarter.

Turning to our financial results in the first quarter. Nucor generated EBITDA of approximately $1.9 billion and net earnings of $1.1 billion, or $4.45 per diluted share. This strong performance was due in large part to the ongoing profitability of our steel products segments, along with increased volumes and margins at our steel mills segment compared to Q4. In our steel products segment, net earnings were down 10% from Q4 levels, but remained 42% ahead of the prior year quarter and significantly above historical averages. Shipments out of our steel mills rose 18%, taking utilization to approximately 80% during Q1 compared to 70% in the prior quarter. And finally, the performance of our raw materials segment improved in the first quarter due to higher volumes.