Cleveland-Cliffs vs Nucor
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Nucor is the larger business, with $32.5B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $18.6B for Cleveland-Cliffs, about 1.7 times as much.
- Nucor grew revenue faster (5.7%, against −3.0%).
- Nucor turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−0.6% FCF margin, against −5.5%).
- Nucor earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (8.6%, against −8.9%).
| Latest fiscal year | CLF · FY25 | NUE · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.0B | $59.0B |
| Revenue | $18.6B | $32.5B |
| Free cash flow | −$1.0B | −$188M |
| Net income | −$1.5B | $1.7B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −3.0% | 5.7% |
| 5-year growth | 28.3% | 10.0% |
| Share count change | 5.8% | −3.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | −4.6% | 11.9% |
| Operating margin | −8.5% | — |
| Net margin | −7.9% | 5.4% |
| FCF margin | −5.5% | −0.6% |
| Return on capital | −8.9% | 8.6% |
| Return on equity | −23.2% | 8.5% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $7.6B | $4.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | 1.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $1.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 20.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 2 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
CLF $1.6B
NUE $16.2B
FY17
CLF $1.9B
NUE $20.3B
FY18
CLF $2.3B
NUE $25.1B
FY19
CLF $2.0B
NUE $22.6B
FY20
CLF $5.4B
NUE $20.1B
FY21
CLF $20.4B
NUE $36.5B
FY22
CLF $23.0B
NUE $41.5B
FY23
CLF $22.0B
NUE $34.7B
FY24
CLF $19.2B
NUE $30.7B
FY25
CLF $18.6B
NUE $32.5B
CLF
NUE
Operating margin
FY16
CLF 8.4%
NUE —
FY17
CLF 20.9%
NUE —
FY18
CLF 28.9%
NUE —
FY19
CLF 21.6%
NUE —
FY20
CLF −2.7%
NUE —
FY21
CLF 19.6%
NUE —
FY22
CLF 8.4%
NUE —
FY23
CLF 3.0%
NUE —
FY24
CLF −4.0%
NUE —
FY25
CLF −8.5%
NUE —
CLF
NUE
Free cash flow
FY16
CLF $296M
NUE $1.1B
FY17
CLF $203M
NUE $607M
FY18
CLF $183M
NUE $1.4B
FY19
CLF −$88.0M
NUE $1.3B
FY20
CLF −$783M
NUE $1.2B
FY21
CLF $2.1B
NUE $4.6B
FY22
CLF $1.5B
NUE $8.1B
FY23
CLF $1.6B
NUE $4.9B
FY24
CLF −$590M
NUE $806M
FY25
CLF −$1.0B
NUE −$188M
CLF
NUE
Return on capital
FY16
CLF 22.7%
NUE 9.9%
FY17
CLF 54.6%
NUE 13.7%
FY18
CLF 52.3%
NUE —
FY19
CLF 21.2%
NUE —
FY20
CLF −2.2%
NUE 7.5%
FY21
CLF 33.2%
NUE 46.5%
FY22
CLF 12.5%
NUE 42.3%
FY23
CLF 4.2%
NUE 23.6%
FY24
CLF −4.7%
NUE 10.9%
FY25
CLF −8.9%
NUE 8.6%
CLF
NUE
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.