Jefferies Maintains Buy on Nucor

Jefferies is out with its report today on Nucor NUE, maintaining Buy. In a note to clients, Jefferies writes, "Following our review of NUE's 2Q11 results, we maintain our BUY rating and see valuations as attractive company's cycle earnings prospects. We continue to expect steel market trends to be largely underwhelming in 2H11, but expect catalysts to turn positive for the space late in the year and advise investors to increase exposure to the shares ahead of improving trends in 1H12." Jefferies maintains a $52 PT on NUE. Shares of NUE closed Thursday at $40.63, up 2.09% from Wednesday's close.