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Nucor
Nucor has long been known as the best operator in the steel business, and is especially famous for its enlightened workforce relations and commitment to new technologies. It pays line workers according to their productivity and listens to, and implements, their ideas to make the process better. Responsibility is pushed as close to the front line as possible. For most of its history, Nucor only grew organically, but under CEO Daniel DiMicco the company has found it’s often cheaper to buy than build. Now executives export the Nucor way to a series of acquired plants: In the past year, it has bought Connecticut Steel, Harris Steel Group, and the assets of Verco Manufacturing. Acquisitions such as Verco, a maker of steel floors and roof decks, help broaden Nucor’s product line and support its migration into higher-margin products.
| Overall Grade | A |
|
| Market Data | NUE | |
| Market Value (2/28/2007) |
$18.3 Billion |
|
| Profitability* | 45.7% | A |
| Sales Growth Rate** | 30.7% | A |
| 12-Month Sales | $14.8 Billion |
|
| 12-Month Net Income | $1.8 Billion |
|
| Total Return | Past 12 Months47.3% | Past 36 Months321.1% |
| Economic Sector | Materials | |
| Industry | Steel | |
The overall sector letter grade reflects how the weighted average of the return on income, or return on equity, and sales growth grades compare with others in the same sector. For the overall grade as well as the ROE/ROI and sales growth grades, an "A" places a company in the top 7% of its sector and an "A-" in the top 14% of the sector. The actual ranking was done using the underlying numerical measures. Grades are for information only.
* For nonfinancial companies, three-year average pretax operating profit before interest and special items as a percentage of average invested capital. For financial companies, pretax profits as a percentage of average shareholder's equity.
*Three-year average annual sales growth based on the most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method.
