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Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 8, 2026

Nucor Corp (NUE)

A forensic read on Nucor Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
6.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
8.5%
ROE
5.7%
Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Nucor Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

FCF ($188M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns. Returned $1.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($188M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $3.2B — 37% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $1.4B past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. The balance sheet covered it: cash and short-term investments fell $1.4B and total debt rose $267M over FY2025.
7.9%
FY2025
Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 7.9% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 20.9%. After-tax operating profit was $5.1B in FY2023 and $2.2B in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +13% across FY2023–FY2025, from $24.4B to $27.7B, while the return fell 13.0 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 20.9% the older base was already earning.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$32.49B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-3.3%
Net Margin5.4%
Free Cash Flow-$188.0M
Return on Equity8.5%
Debt / Equity0.33x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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