Nucor Q4 Adj. Profit Beats View, But Revenues Miss - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Steel maker Nucor Corp. (NUE) reported a loss for the fourth quarter on a double-digit decline in sales. However, adjusted earnings beat analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2016, Nucor said it anticipates some improvement in the steel mills segment compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 due to a lower average cost of inventory to begin the first quarter and a modest improvement in market conditions.

Consolidated net loss for the fourth quarter was $62.02 million or $0.19 per share, compared to net earnings of $210.43 million or $0.65 per share, in the year-ago period.

The latest quarter's results include two impairment charges of $0.48 per share and $0.17 per share.

Adjusted net earnings for the quarter were $0.46 per share. The result was above the company's quantitative guidance of$0.15 to $0.20 per share due to a larger than forecasted LIFO credit and better than forecasted performance in its steel mills segment.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.23 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Consolidated net sales declined 31 percent to $3.46 billion from $5.00 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Wall Street expected revenues of $3.67 billion for the quarter.

For the first quarter of 2016, Nucor currently expects a LIFO expense of $13.5 million or $0.03 per share.