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 contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and community ranking.

Do analysts rate NUE or STLD?

Nucor currently has a consensus price target of $192.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.17%. Steel Dynamics has a consensus price target of $141.29, indicating a potential upside of 19.21%. Given Nucor's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities 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)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Steel Dynamics	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	$32.69B	1.07	$4.52B	$17.00	8.59
Steel Dynamics	$18.80B	0.97	$2.45B	$14.56	8.15

Is NUE or STLD more profitable?

Steel Dynamics has a net margin of 11.10% compared to Nucor's net margin of 10.45%. Steel Dynamics' return on equity of 22.89% beat Nucor's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nucor	10.45%	15.69%	9.92%
Steel Dynamics	11.10%	22.89%	13.44%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in NUE or STLD?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NUE or STLD?

Steel Dynamics received 152 more outperform votes than Nucor when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.94% of users gave Steel Dynamics an outperform vote while only 64.31% of users gave Nucor an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Nucor	Outperform Votes 683 64.31%	Underperform Votes 379 35.69%
Steel Dynamics	Outperform Votes 835 67.94%	Underperform Votes 394 32.06%

Is NUE or STLD a better dividend stock?

Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Steel Dynamics pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Nucor pays out 12.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Steel Dynamics pays out 12.6% 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 raised its dividend for 51 consecutive years and Steel Dynamics has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Steel Dynamics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer NUE or STLD?

In the previous week, Nucor had 8 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Nucor and 32 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Steel Dynamics' average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat Nucor's score of 0.28 indicating that Steel Dynamics is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nucor	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Steel Dynamics	10 Very Positive mention(s)	13 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, NUE or STLD?

Nucor has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nucor beats Steel Dynamics on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.