Nucor Q2 2026 earnings nearly doubled to $1.16B ($5.04/share) as record mill shipments and tariff-supported steel prices widened metal margins, though a $130M refund and $61M Helion gain flatter the quarter.
Revenue
$10.4B
+23.0% YoY
Net income
$1.2B
+91.7% YoY
Diluted EPS
$5.04
+93.8% YoY
Operating margin
15.7%
Nucor nearly doubled its profit as its mills sold more steel at higher prices
Nucor, North America's largest steelmaker, earned $1.16 billion ($5.04 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2026 (the 13 weeks ended July 4, 2026). A year earlier it earned $603 million ($2.60), and in Q1 2026 it earned $743 million ($3.23). Net sales rose 23% to $10.4 billion. Most of that came from the steel mills. They shipped 12% more steel to outside customers, a second straight quarterly record, and each ton sold for about 10% more. Scrap, the main raw material, got only about 5% more expensive per ton over the same period.
Two items that won't recur flatter the quarter. We break them out below. Even without them, pre-tax earnings rose about 60% year over year.
Key figures
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Net sales
$10,397M
$8,456M
+23.0%
Gross margin
19.6%
14.5%
+5.1 pts
Operating margin (pre-tax earnings before net interest ÷ sales)
15.7%
10.9%
+4.8 pts
Net earnings attributable to Nucor
$1,156M
$603M
+91.7%
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Average scrap & scrap substitute cost per gross ton
$422
$403
+5%
Nucor doesn't report an "operating income" line. The operating margin above is earnings before income taxes and noncontrolling interests plus net interest expense ($1,625M + $12M in Q2 2026; $899M + $19M in Q2 2025), divided by net sales. Gross margin is net sales minus cost of products sold. The prior-year shipment figure is backed out of the 12% increase Nucor reports.
Segment results: the mills did the work
Nucor reports three segments. Steel mills make raw steel: sheet, bars, beams and plate. Steel products turn steel into finished goods such as joists, deck, rebar, pipe and towers. Raw materials covers the scrap business (DJJ), direct reduced iron (DRI, a scrap substitute) plants, and natural gas wells.
Pre-tax earnings by segment
Q2 2026
Q1 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Steel mills
$1,556M
$1,128M
$843M
+84.6%
Steel products
$353M
$276M
$392M
−9.9%
Raw materials
$146M
$45M
$57M
+156%
Corporate/eliminations
−$430M
−$353M
−$393M
n/m
Total
$1,625M
$1,096M
$899M
+80.8%
Steel mills. Segment sales rose 23%. Outside shipments rose 12%, to 5.66 million tons, and the average price per ton rose 10%, from $1,041 to $1,145. The key figure is metal margin: the steel selling price minus the cost of scrap and scrap substitutes. It is the main profit driver for a scrap-based "mini-mill" producer like Nucor. Selling prices rose about twice as fast as scrap costs ($403 to $422 per gross ton), so metal margin widened, and Nucor names this as the main reason gross margin rose. Mill utilization averaged about 88% in the first half, up from 82%. Fixed costs were therefore spread over more tons.
Steel products. This segment is the exception. Volumes rose 13% and prices rose 4% (to $2,415 a ton), yet pre-tax earnings fell 10%, to $353M. The 10-Q explains why: "increased average sales prices and volumes were outpaced by increased steel input costs causing margin compression." Put simply, the segment buys steel, largely from Nucor's own mills. When steel prices rise, its input costs go up faster than it can reprice fabricated products sold under earlier contracts. Tubular products stood out, with tons up 39% and the largest price gains. Joist and deck tons fell 9%. Joist and deck is the non-residential construction product line.
Raw materials. Pre-tax earnings rose to $146M from $57M, on higher selling prices and shipments and better profitability at the DRI plants.
Tariffs: a stated tailwind for pricing and volume
The 10-Q says plainly why domestic pricing held up. "Federal trade policies, including anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws in combination with Section 232 national security tariffs, are continuing to reduce the volume of unfairly traded imports into the United States." Section 232 tariffs are the national-security duties on imported steel. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties are penalties on imports priced below fair value or subsidized by foreign governments. In the earnings release, CEO Leon Topalian credits "supportive federal trade policies," together with investment across key sectors of the US economy, for the record mill shipments. Fewer imports means domestic mills fill more of US demand, and that lifts both tons and price. Both showed up this quarter. The flip side is the steel products margin squeeze above: tariff-supported steel prices raise costs for companies that buy steel, including Nucor's own fabrication businesses.
What's one-off in these numbers
$130M raw-material refund. Cost of products sold in the steel mills segment fell by $130 million "related to cash refunds associated with prior periods' raw materials procurement costs." This is a pre-tax benefit tied to earlier periods. Nucor does not exclude it from its adjusted EPS.
$61M Helion gain. A non-cash, pre-tax gain on Nucor's stake in the fusion-energy company Helion, after Helion completed a funding round. It is booked as a reduction in marketing and administrative expenses. Nucor's adjusted EPS of $4.84 excludes only this item ($0.20 per share).
Together the two items add $191M to pre-tax earnings, about 12% of the $1,625M total. Without them, pre-tax earnings would be about $1,434M, still up roughly 60% from $899M a year earlier. The underlying improvement is real, but the true run-rate is below the headline $5.04.
Some costs grow with profit. Profit-sharing and incentive pay rose by $86M year over year. Start-up costs at new plants (mainly the West Virginia sheet mill and the Indiana coating complex) were about $120M, a little below the prior year's $136M. Joint-venture partners' share of earnings rose to $124M from $103M, mostly because Nucor-Yamato, the structural-beam joint venture, earned more.
Cash and capital returns
Operating cash flow was $2.29 billion in the first half, up from $1.10 billion. Capital spending fell to $1.23 billion from $1.81 billion. Nucor now expects about $2.50 billion of capex for 2026, down from $3.42 billion in 2025, as its big build-out winds down. The largest remaining projects are the West Virginia sheet mill, two new towers-and-structures plants, and a South Carolina galvanizing line. Nucor returned about $479 million to shareholders in Q2 through buybacks (about 1.53 million shares at an average $228.76) and dividends. Cash and short-term investments stood at $2.69 billion, and funded debt was 23.4% of total capital.
Takeaway: This quarter was about metal margin, not just volume. Steel mill selling prices rose about $104 a ton while scrap rose about $19. Import-limiting trade policy is keeping domestic prices high, and that pushed steel mills' pre-tax profit up 85%. About 12% of pre-tax earnings came from a refund and an investment gain that won't recur. Steel products earned less even as it sold more, which shows that the higher steel prices helping the mills are hurting Nucor's own steel-buying businesses.
Outlook
Management expects higher consolidated earnings in Q3 2026. For steel mills it expects "higher realized pricing across all major product categories with stable volumes". For steel products it expects gains from "both higher volumes and higher realized pricing". Raw materials earnings should fall on lower margins. Backlogs in both steel segments ended Q2 above their end-of-Q1 levels. Nucor expects a full-year tax rate of 20–22%.
Our read: The Q3 guidance depends mostly on price. Volumes are expected to be flat and utilization is already high, so almost all further profit growth at the mills has to come from price outrunning scrap. That depends on trade policy staying as it is. Any easing of Section 232 or duty enforcement is the main risk to pricing. Q3 also has a tougher base: without the $130M refund and $61M Helion gain, a flat quarter would look like a decline in reported earnings. A steel products recovery would matter, since price increases there would start to catch up with steel costs. Falling capex and new mills finishing their start-up phase should support free cash flow into 2027, even if steel prices level off.