Nucor vs Reliance
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The short version
- Nucor is the larger business, with $32.5B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $14.3B for Reliance, about 2.3 times as much.
- Nucor grew revenue faster (5.7%, against 3.3%).
- Reliance turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.5% FCF margin, against −0.6%).
- Reliance earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.4%, against 8.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Reliance’s earnings: a P/E of 27.1x against 20.6x for Nucor.
| Latest fiscal year | NUE · FY25 | RS · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $59.0B | $21.6B |
| Revenue | $32.5B | $14.3B |
| Free cash flow | −$188M | $503M |
| Net income | $1.7B | $739M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.7% | 3.3% |
| 5-year growth | 10.0% | 10.2% |
| Share count change | −3.1% | −6.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 11.9% | — |
| Operating margin | — | 7.1% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 5.2% |
| FCF margin | −0.6% | 3.5% |
| Return on capital | 8.6% | 9.4% |
| Return on equity | 8.5% | 10.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $4.4B | $1.2B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | 0.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $1.2B | $594M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 20.6x | 27.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
NUE $16.2B
RS $8.6B
FY17
NUE $20.3B
RS $9.7B
FY18
NUE $25.1B
RS $11.5B
FY19
NUE $22.6B
RS $11.0B
FY20
NUE $20.1B
RS $8.8B
FY21
NUE $36.5B
RS $14.1B
FY22
NUE $41.5B
RS $17.0B
FY23
NUE $34.7B
RS $14.8B
FY24
NUE $30.7B
RS $13.8B
FY25
NUE $32.5B
RS $14.3B
NUE
RS
Operating margin
FY16
NUE —
RS 6.0%
FY17
NUE —
RS 6.8%
FY18
NUE —
RS 8.1%
FY19
NUE —
RS 9.2%
FY20
NUE —
RS 6.4%
FY21
NUE —
RS 13.8%
FY22
NUE —
RS 14.7%
FY23
NUE —
RS 11.8%
FY24
NUE —
RS 8.4%
FY25
NUE —
RS 7.1%
NUE
RS
Free cash flow
FY16
NUE $1.1B
RS $472M
FY17
NUE $607M
RS $237M
FY18
NUE $1.4B
RS $425M
FY19
NUE $1.3B
RS $1.1B
FY20
NUE $1.2B
RS $1.0B
FY21
NUE $4.6B
RS $563M
FY22
NUE $8.1B
RS $1.8B
FY23
NUE $4.9B
RS $1.2B
FY24
NUE $806M
RS $999M
FY25
NUE −$188M
RS $503M
NUE
RS
Return on capital
FY16
NUE 9.9%
RS 6.4%
FY17
NUE 13.7%
RS 10.8%
FY18
NUE —
RS 10.9%
FY19
NUE —
RS 11.6%
FY20
NUE 7.5%
RS 7.0%
FY21
NUE 46.5%
RS 21.7%
FY22
NUE 42.3%
RS 26.2%
FY23
NUE 23.6%
RS 18.0%
FY24
NUE 10.9%
RS 11.3%
FY25
NUE 8.6%
RS 9.4%
NUE
RS
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.