Steel Dynamics (STLD) Competitors

Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ:STLD) and Nucor (NYSE:NUE) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, community ranking, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, media sentiment and risk.

Which has more risk & volatility, STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nucor has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is STLD or NUE a better dividend stock?

Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Steel Dynamics pays out 18.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nucor pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Nucor has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years. Nucor is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, STLD or NUE?

Nucor has higher revenue and earnings than Steel Dynamics. Steel Dynamics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nucor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Steel Dynamics	$17.54B	1.13	$1.54B	$9.80	13.34
Nucor	$30.73B	1.03	$2.03B	$8.41	16.07

Do analysts recommend STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics presently has a consensus target price of $146.22, indicating a potential upside of 11.87%. Nucor has a consensus target price of $163.13, indicating a potential upside of 20.67%. Given Nucor's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Nucor is more favorable than Steel Dynamics.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Steel Dynamics	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Nucor	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Does the media refer more to STLD or NUE?

In the previous week, Nucor had 4 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Nucor and 20 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Nucor's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat Steel Dynamics' score of 0.84 indicating that Nucor is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Steel Dynamics	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nucor	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics received 150 more outperform votes than Nucor when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.44% of users gave Steel Dynamics an outperform vote while only 64.28% of users gave Nucor an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Steel Dynamics	Outperform Votes 841 67.44%	Underperform Votes 406 32.56%
Nucor	Outperform Votes 691 64.28%	Underperform Votes 384 35.72%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in STLD or NUE?

82.4% of Steel Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Nucor shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of Steel Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Nucor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is STLD or NUE more profitable?

Steel Dynamics has a net margin of 8.76% compared to Nucor's net margin of 6.60%. Steel Dynamics' return on equity of 17.32% beat Nucor's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Steel Dynamics	8.76%	17.32%	10.13%
Nucor	6.60%	9.85%	6.25%

Summary

Nucor beats Steel Dynamics on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.