Nucor CEO explains what led the steelmaking company to its third-most profitable year

• Nucor CEO Leon Topalian debriefed the steelmaking company's Tuesday earnings report with CNBC's Jim Cramer.
• According to Topalian, Nucor has made money in the past three years than it has in the last 20 combined, owing in part to the company's diverse approach to steelmaking.

Nucor CEO Leon Topalian debriefed the steelmaking company's Tuesday earnings report with CNBC's Jim Cramer, explaining why the company has been especially profitable over the past few years.

Nucor is the largest steelmaker in North America, and Topalian said it makes one out of every four tons of steel produced in U.S. According to Topalian, Nucor has made more money in the past three years than it has in the last 20 combined, owing in part to the company's business in a variety of sectors.

"This represents the third most profitable year in Nucor's history behind 2022 and 2021," Topalian said in the company earnings call. "In fact, Nucor's combined net earnings over the past three years exceeds the combined net earnings of the last 20 years. This is a testament to the focus and dedication of our team as we execute our strategy to grow the core, Expand Beyond, and live our culture."

"Our strategy since I took over is to grow the core and expand beyond, so grow our core steelmaking assets and expand into those adjacent steel centric businesses that operate just outside of the cyclicality of steel," Topalian said. "We're touching every sector of the economy from automotive to Ag to energy to all the megatrends, we're moving our company and positioning us for higher highs."

Topalian said Nucor benefits from a number of government initiatives that boost demand for steel and incentivize domestic manufacturing. He named the Biden administration's $1 trillion infrastructure bill as well a bill to encourage U.S. semiconductor production, which means more business for Nucor as these chip makers develop new plants.

"We think about power transmission, grid hardening, rebuilding the entire infrastructure of the United States," Topalian said. "Nucor is poised and ready to capitalize on all of that."

Nucor stock was up nearly 7% by Tuesday's close.

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