Steel Dynamics Inc (NASDAQ:STLD) stock fell 2.88% (As on July 22, 11:13:52 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted second-quarter earnings below Wall Street expectations amid lingering trade policy uncertainty and an inventory overhang in coated flat rolled steel pressured shipments. Despite the miss, CEO Mark Millett said steel pricing stabilized at higher levels during the quarter, helping drive a 39% sequential improvement in consolidated operating income and a 19% gain in adjusted EBITDA. The margin expansion was led by stronger performance in the company’s long products operations. However, customer hesitancy due to unsettled trade policy and excess inventory weighed on volumes. The second quarter 2025 average external product selling price for the company’s steel operations increased $136 sequentially to $1,134 per ton. The average ferrous scrap cost per ton melted at the company’s steel mills increased $22 sequentially to $408 per ton. Flat rolled steel pricing rebounded in March and continued to improve from the lower values experienced at the beginning of the year and has since stabilized at higher levels.
Moreover, second quarter 2025 operating income for the company’s steel operations was $382 million, or 66 percent higher than sequential first quarter results. Second quarter 2025 operating income from the company’s metals recycling operations was $21 million, or $4 million lower than sequential earnings, based on lower realized ferrous scrap pricing more than offsetting record quarterly shipments. The company’s steel fabrication operations generated operating income of $93 million in the second quarter 2025, lower than sequential first quarter results of $117 million, due to metal spread compression as steel raw material costs increased and the average realized sales price modestly declined. Order activity remained solid in the quarter, with the order backlog increasing 15 percent since the beginning of the year and now extends into 2026, supported by stable pricing.
STLD in the second quarter of FY25 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $2.01, missing the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $2.05, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported the adjusted revenue of $4.57 billion in the second quarter of FY25, missing the analysts’ estimates for revenue by 1.34%. The company invested $594 million in capital investments, repaid $400 million of its senior notes, paid cash dividends of $144 million, and repurchased $450 million of its outstanding common stock, representing 2.4 percent of its outstanding shares, while maintaining liquidity of $1.9 billion.
The company also reaffirmed its long-term growth outlook, citing expansion into value-added steel and aluminum flat rolled products.