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Nucor (NUE) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Nucor (NUE - Free Report) closed at $60.43, marking a +0.75% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.82%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.79%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.79%.

Heading into today, shares of the steel company had lost 0.05% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's gain of 2.53% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.94% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from NUE as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 29, 2019. In that report, analysts expect NUE to post earnings of $2 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 207.69%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.29 billion, up 23.53% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.56 per share and revenue of $25.09 billion, which would represent changes of +115.38% and +23.9%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for NUE. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.3% higher. NUE currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, NUE is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.93. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.71.

We can also see that NUE currently has a PEG ratio of 0.66. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. NUE's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.6 as of yesterday's close.

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 179, which puts it in the bottom 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow NUE in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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