NUCOR CORP (NUE) — payout ratio, three ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Materials · computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 29.4% | A single year's earnings for a commodity producer can be several times the through-cycle average. This ratio computed in a trough looks alarming and in a peak looks trivial; neither describes whether the dividend is affordable across a cycle. |
| Operating cash flow | 15.8% | Before capital spending, so it understates the payout that free cash flow shows. |
| Free cash flow | negative | Operating cash flow was $188m short of capital spending, so no ratio exists. The dividend was not funded from free cash flow this year. |
Nothing is marked as applying, deliberately. The basis that governs here is free cash flow, and this year it yields no ratio at all. The figure above is shown for completeness; treating it as the answer is the substitution this page exists to prevent.
Spread between highest and lowest: 14 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $2.21 ÷ diluted EPS $7.52
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $512.0m ÷ operating cash flow $3,234.0m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $512.0m ÷ (operating cash flow $3,234.0m − capex $3,422.0m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-25 · accession
0001193125-26-071575
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.