Cameco, Centrus sell fuel; three nuclear stocks have $12B market

Only two of five hot nuclear stocks actually sell fuel today. Cameco and Centrus Energy did, booking $2.5 billion and $474 million in trailing revenue. The other three—Oklo, NuScale Power and Nano Nuclear Energy—together sell almost nothing yet, but their combined market value is still $12 billion.

The gap shows how investors are betting big on tomorrow’s reactors even when today’s orders are tiny. Cameco and Centrus mine, enrich and sell uranium right now. The other three are pre-commercial developers chasing advanced designs that do not yet exist outside labs. All five stocks have fallen hard in 2024—NuScale down 83% from its high, Oklo 77%, Nano Nuclear 70%, Cameco 29%. Yet the sell-off has not slowed the dream of next-generation reactors. The three developers still command a $12 billion valuation despite only $12 million in combined sales over the past year.

Cameco is the closest to a normal business. It dug up uranium in Saskatchewan and shipped $2.5 billion worth last year. Its second-quarter output dipped because of rough spring roads and temporary shutdowns, but management still lifted its full-year price and revenue outlook. Cameco trades at about 17 times trailing sales and pays a small dividend. Centrus is smaller but crucial: it already sells enriched uranium and runs America’s only licensed factory for high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU—the fuel advanced reactors need. Centrus brings in $474 million a year and trades near eight times sales.

Oklo, NuScale and Nano Nuclear are not selling fuel yet; they are selling construction timelines. Oklo reported $1.2 million in second-quarter revenue on Friday, up from zero a year ago, yet still lost $48.5 million. Their $12 billion market cap is a bet on future reactor orders, not current deliveries. What the market really pays for is the chance that advanced reactors will one day replace some fossil fuel plants. If those bets pay off, the upside is huge. If not, the $12 billion could melt down fast.