Nucor beats quarterly estimates; sees sequential profit drop in Q4

(Reuters) - Nucor Corp on Monday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but said it expects a sequential drop in the current-quarter earnings primarily due to likely lower pricing across all steel segments, particularly its steel sheet mills.

Steelmakers have seen prices tumble in recent months in part due to customers, including automakers and suppliers, exercising caution in building raw material inventory as the workers strike against the Detroit Three automakers drags on.

Nucor's net sales declined 16% to $8.78 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, but came ahead of analysts' estimates of $8.31 billion, as per LSEG data.

Average sales price per ton in the reported quarter decreased 14% from last year.

Nucor posted a quarterly net profit of $1.14 billion, or $4.57 per share, down from $1.69 billion, or $6.50 per share, last year. Analysts were expecting $4.25 per share.

Shares of the company rose 1.43% in after-market trading.

Last week, Steel Dynamics also reported a drop in third-quarter profit, as higher manufacturing costs and a fall in steel prices hit its bottom line.

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)