Nucor (NUE) Competitors

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

Is STLD or NUE more profitable?

Steel Dynamics has a net margin of 9.80% compared to Nucor's net margin of 8.05%. Steel Dynamics' return on equity of 19.82% beat Nucor's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Steel Dynamics	9.80%	19.82%	11.57%
Nucor	8.05%	12.06%	7.63%

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 1.5%. Nucor pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Steel Dynamics pays out 16.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nucor pays out 21.3% 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 raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Nucor has raised 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 more risk and volatility, STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% 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.

Does the media prefer STLD or NUE?

In the previous week, Nucor had 12 more articles in the media than Steel Dynamics. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Nucor and 15 mentions for Steel Dynamics. Nucor's average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Steel Dynamics' score of 0.85 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	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nucor	17 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and 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	$18.80B	1.01	$2.45B	$11.05	11.28
Nucor	$34.71B	0.85	$4.52B	$10.35	12.07

Do analysts prefer STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics currently has a consensus price target of $140.88, indicating a potential upside of 12.98%. Nucor has a consensus price target of $163.63, indicating a potential upside of 30.95%. Given Nucor's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Nucor	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer STLD or NUE?

Steel Dynamics received 150 more outperform votes than Nucor when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.61% of users gave Steel Dynamics an outperform vote while only 64.39% of users gave Nucor an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Steel Dynamics	Outperform Votes 839 67.61%	Underperform Votes 402 32.39%
Nucor	Outperform Votes 689 64.39%	Underperform Votes 381 35.61%

Do institutionals & insiders 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. 6.1% of Steel Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nucor shares are owned 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.

Summary

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