Steel Dynamics Inc. Has Tough Act To Follow With Q4 Results

Steel Dynamics Inc.

shares were little changed ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report expected after the bell Wednesday. The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company's shares, down more than 20 percent since November, and changed hands recently at $17.78, up $0.11 cents. Steel Dynamics has a tough act to follow. Results of three major steelmakers beat estimates by significant margins so far this week: U.S. Steel Corp

and AK Steel Holdings Corp.

. Steel Dynamics warned last month that lower prices for its steel will outweigh lower scrap costs in the quarter, compressing profit margins. The company forecast adjusted earnings of $0.38 to $0.42 a share. Wall Street is expecting $0.40 cents a share on revenue of $2.59 billion Net earnings will be "somewhat lower" than sequential third quarter 2014 results of $0.38 a share and higher than year-earlier fourth quarter results of $0.24 a share, the company said in December.