The range sits above the last quarter
Steel Dynamics said it expects third-quarter 2026 diluted earnings of 5.34 to 5.38 dollars a share. The same release put sequential second-quarter earnings at 3.69 dollars and prior-year third-quarter earnings at 2.74 dollars. The guide is not a reported result; the company said it will publish the accounts after the close on 19 October 2026.[1]
Steel-operations profitability is expected to be significantly higher than the second quarter, driven by metal-margin expansion and record shipments. Average realized steel selling values are expected to increase and scrap costs to fall, in a separate sentence. Those two moves widen the spread if they arrive together; if one is missing, the 5.34-5.38 dollar range is not carried by shipments alone.[1]
The unit that is supposed to weaken in the same quarter
Metals-recycling earnings are expected to be lower than the second quarter because of lower metal spreads and modestly lower shipments. Fabrication is expected to improve only modestly, as stronger shipments more than offset metal-spread compression from higher steel input costs; the backlog is nearly 50 per cent higher than the prior-year third quarter and runs through the first quarter of 2027. The net guide therefore assumes the wider steel spread more than offsets weaker recycling and a tighter fabrication spread.[1]
The line to read on 19 October
The company also said it had bought back 261 million dollars of its common stock so far in the third quarter, just under 1 per cent. A buyback shrinks the diluted share count; it does not show whether the guide was earned in cash. If the diluted per-share figure published on 19 October sits outside 5.34 to 5.38 dollars, the scrap-to-price spread described on 17 September did not hold in that number.[1]