Nucor: Steel Titan Rising

In his 1865 book ‘The Coal Question’, economist William Stanley Jevons postulated that the invention of the steam engine, the great productivity leap of the 19^th century, would not simply lead to a more efficient and stable demand for the mining of coal. Rather, he suggested (correctly) that whenever a step-up in productivity growth is achieved, it leads to a spectacular increase in the general demand for energy, as society seeks to leverage this great new thing to raise its standard of living.

Today, as we approach several exciting technological leaps, whether with artificial intelligence or clean energy, I expect to see an increase in demand for a key building block behind those leaps: steel. Nucor Corporation (NUE), the largest and most diversified steel producer in the U.S., is this week’s Long Idea.