CluenexNucor NUE
Nucor scores average on business quality (4.9 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Nucor does
Nucor manufactures steel and steel products, operating mini-mills that recycle scrap metal into construction and industrial materials. Customers include contractors and fabricators who pay for steel joists, decks, and fasteners.
- What it does best
Nucor excels at low-cost scrap metal recycling via mini-mills, yielding an operating margin of 10.1% that outperforms peers like CLF at -4.1%. This scrap-based electric arc furnace model avoids the high fixed costs of traditional blast furnaces, making the cost structure hard to replicate quickly.
- The main risk
Global overcapacity driven by foreign trade pressures threatens selling prices. With revenue growth slowing down to 5.7% and gross margins sitting in the bottom quartile at 14%, cheap imports compress margins across its core steel volumes.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin sits at 10.1% and FCF margin at 1.5%, reflecting compression from heavy capex. Scale does not protect margins during downcycles because fixed asset investments dilute near-term returns.
Nucor lacks a wide structural moat, ranking in the bottom quartile for gross margin at 12%. Rivals can build competing electric arc furnaces within a few years, limiting pricing power.
Revenue grew 5.7% to $34.2B, but history shows erratic swings down from a peak of $41.5B, leaving top-line expansion fading compared to its past cycle.
Debt-to-equity sits at 0.3x with interest coverage of 21x, meaning debt costs are manageable. Free cash flow dropped to $532M amid $3.2B in heavy capital expenditures, turning softer than prior years.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
4 sold $11.2M outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on NUE
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Nucor scores average on the Cluenex quality check (4.9 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 4 sold $11.2M outside pre-planned sales.
Oct 26, 2026, after the close.
See NUE today
- Today's verdict on NUE, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Nucor (NUE)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/nue/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.