Nucor Posts Profit, but Outlook Murky

Nucor ends a series of quarterly losses, but its outlook for the first part of 2010 is guarded.
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(Nucor earnings item updated to correct a misreported fourth-quarter EPS figure; the company earned 18 cents a share in the fourth period, not 8 cents.)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (

TheStreet

) -- Scrap-metal recycler and steelmaker

Nucor

(NUE) - Get Report

exceeded Wall Street's

already diminished expectations

for the company's fourth quarter, and gave a somewhat cautious outlook for the first part of 2010.

Nucor ended a string of quarterly losses by posting net income of $59 million, or 18 cents a share, besting the Wall Street consensus target of 7 cents for the three-month period ending Dec. 31.

Revenue for the quarter came to $2.94 billion, also basically in line with analysts' estimates.

A year ago, before the full impact of the recession crushed demand for steel, Nucor earned $106 million, or 34 cents a share, on revenue of $4.15 billion.

In looking ahead to 2010, Nucor demonstrated a firm grasp of the obvious. "Going forward, we believe that the most challenging markets for our products will be those associated with residential and non-residential construction, which continue to show little, if any, strength."

Nucor expects steel mill shipments to increase by 5% in the first quarter; it also anticipates "significant increases in both sales prices and scrap costs."

Last-in, first-out inventory accounting expenses of $25 million -- as opposed to the LIFO credits Nucor took in the fourth quarter -- will drag on the company's first-quarter results, much as the accounting method has impacted

AK Steel

(AKS) - Get Report

,

which reported earnings on Monday

. "Actual first quarter earnings will be significantly impacted by these inventory valuation adjustments," said Nucor, which will provide specific profit guidance midway through the first period, as it normally does.

Shares of Nucor were trading slightly lower Tuesday morning at $43.74, down 39 cents from the previous close.

Nucor peer

U.S. Steel

(X) - Get Report

, meanwhile, offered up worse-than-expected results and a disappointing outlook Tuesday, and investors punished the stock accordingly. U.S Steel shares were falling nearly 10% to $50.79 Tuesday morning.

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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>>U.S. Steel Misses, Warns; Stock Drops

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Scott Eden has covered business -- both large and small -- for more than a decade. Prior to joining TheStreet.com, he worked as a features reporter for Dealmaker and Trader Monthly magazines. Before that, he wrote for the Chicago Reader, that city's weekly paper. Early in his career, he was a staff reporter at the Dow Jones News Service. His reporting has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Men's Journal, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, and the Believer magazine, among other publications. He's also the author of Touchdown Jesus (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a nonfiction book about Notre Dame football fans and the business and politics of big-time college sports. He has degrees from Notre Dame and Washington University in St. Louis.