Nucor (NUE) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend NUE or STLD?

Nucor currently has a consensus target price of $163.13, suggesting a potential upside of 20.67%. Steel Dynamics has a consensus target price of $146.22, suggesting a potential upside of 11.87%. 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
Nucor	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Steel Dynamics	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

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

76.5% of Nucor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Nucor shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Steel Dynamics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is NUE or STLD a better dividend stock?

Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Nucor pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Steel Dynamics pays out 18.8% 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. Nucor has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years and Steel Dynamics has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Nucor is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is NUE or STLD 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
Nucor	6.60%	9.85%	6.25%
Steel Dynamics	8.76%	17.32%	10.13%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NUE or STLD?

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

Which has more risk and volatility, NUE or STLD?

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

Does the media refer more to NUE or STLD?

In the previous week, Nucor had 8 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Nucor and 20 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Nucor's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Steel Dynamics' score of 1.08 indicating that Nucor is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nucor	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Steel Dynamics	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, NUE or STLD?

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
Nucor	$30.73B	1.03	$2.03B	$8.41	16.07
Steel Dynamics	$17.54B	1.13	$1.54B	$9.80	13.34

Summary

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