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Nucor (NUE) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Nucor (NUE - Free Report) closed at $102.54, marking a +1.47% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.08% gain on the day.

Heading into today, shares of the steel company had gained 22.62% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's gain of 4.56% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.41% in that time.

NUE will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, NUE is projected to report earnings of $3.72 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 933.33%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.42 billion, up 94.54% from the prior-year quarter.

NUE's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $11 per share and revenue of $29.13 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +229.34% and +44.64%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for NUE. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 13.38% higher within the past month. NUE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Digging into valuation, NUE currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.19. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.36.

We can also see that NUE currently has a PEG ratio of 0.77. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Steel - Producers was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.55 at yesterday's closing price.

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 22, which puts it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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