OREANDA-NEWS. January 30, 2015. Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced consolidated net earnings of USD 713.9 million, or USD 2.22 per diluted share, for the full year 2014, an improvement of 46% compared with consolidated net earnings of USD 488.0 million, or USD 1.52 per diluted share, for the full year 2013.  

Nucor reported consolidated net earnings of USD 210.4 million, or USD 0.65 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2014. By comparison, Nucor reported net earnings of USD 245.4 million, or USD 0.76 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2014 and net earnings of USD 170.5 million, or USD 0.53 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2013.  

Nucor's results include a credit of USD 57.3 million for the fourth quarter and full year 2014 (USD 0.11 per diluted share) to value inventories using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method of accounting. These credits are compared with a charge of USD 17.4 million (USD 0.04 per diluted share) for the fourth quarter and full year 2013, and a credit of USD 14.5 million (USD 0.03 per diluted share) in the third quarter of 2014.  

Third quarter of 2014 results included a USD 12.5 million charge (USD 0.03 per diluted share) related to the partial write down of assets within the steel mills segment. The fourth quarter of 2013 results were impacted by an out-of-period non-cash gain of USD 21.3 million (USD 0.07 per diluted share) related to a correction of deferred tax balances.

For the full year 2014, Nucor's consolidated net sales increased 11% to USD 21.11 billion, compared with USD 19.05 billion for 2013. Average sales price per ton increased 3%. Total tons shipped to outside customers in 2014 were 25,413,000, an increase of 7% from the full year 2013.