Steel Dynamics Inc.'s third-quarter attributable net income jumped to US$398.4 million, or US$1.69 per diluted share, from US$153.3 million, or 64 cents per share, according to an Oct. 17 release.

The company's EPS exceeded its previous guidance of between US$1.60 and US$1.64.

The results included charges of US$13 million, or about 4 cents per share, related to its recent US$400 million Heartland acquisition, and a tax benefit of US$10 million, or 4 cents per share.

Net sales in the quarter totaled US$3.22 billion, significantly up from US$2.44 billion a year ago.

Operating income climbed year over year to US$531.6 million, from US$ 271.0 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose to a record US$625.5 million from US$347.5 million.

Operating income for the company's steel operation, meanwhile, surged to US$577.3 million from US$280.3 million. Average steel sales came in at US$988 per tonne in the quarter, increasing from US$778 per tonne in the third quarter of 2017.

Steel Dynamics's total steel shipments were up at 2.76 million tonnes in the quarter, compared to 2.46 million tonnes a year ago. Steel production in the period increased to 2.85 million tonnes from 2.54 million tonnes on a yearly basis.

President and CEO Mark Millett attributed the improved performance to record steel shipments, average steel selling price improvement, and metal spread expansion across its steel operations, noting that steel consumption will continue to be strong based on firm domestic steel demand.

Millett added that the integration of Heartland is advancing well, and the company remains on track to achieve an expected annual run-rate of between 800,000 tonnes and 900,000 tonnes by mid-2019.