The uranium stock behind the energy market's nuclear play

Nuclear power’s comeback boosts supplier of reactor fuel, but geopolitical risks loom large

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(Bill Sternberg is a veteran Washington journalist and former editorial page editor of USA Today.)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (Callaway Climate Insights) — One of this year’s hottest energy stocks has nothing to do with solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, oil, natural gas or coal.

The company is Centrus $LEU, and it’s in the uranium business. Specifically, it supplies the enriched uranium that is required to fuel nuclear reactors.

When I last wrote about the enriched uranium industry in June 2023, Centrus stock was trading at $46 a share. At the beginning of 2025, it was $74. By Oct. 31, it was $367 — a five-fold increase from New Year’s Day to Halloween. Then, on Nov. 6, it plunged 15% to close at $278 after the company filed to sell as much as $1 billion in additional shares.

As is typically the case with high-flying companies, some analysts assert that Centrus has a strong growth story and the best is yet to come. Others argue that the stock has gotten wildly overvalued as investors underestimate the 20 pages of risk factors detailed in its annual report to securities regulators.