S&P 500 nuclear plays Constellation Energy (CEG) and Vistra (VST) report second-quarter earnings and revenue Thursday as the stock market nuclear energy hype takes another jump as the Trump White House throws increasing support into nuclear power.
Vistra leads off reporting Q2 financials before the stock market opens Thursday with Constellation Energy following after the market closes. Analysts expect Vistra to see second-quarter profit grow 25 to 88 cents per share with revenue increasing 23% to $4.74 billion, according to FactSet. Meanwhile, Constellation Energy Q2 earnings are predicted to come in at $1.84 per share, marking a 9.5% increase vs. a year ago, on sales totaling $4.91 billion, down around 10% compared to Q2 2024.
On Tuesday, Constellation Energy announced it would hold its quarterly dividend steady at 39 cents a share. Meanwhile, Vistra regulatory filings on Tuesday showed that Qatar Investment Authority, the Qatar sovereign fund, has taken a 5.5% stake in VST, placing the fund among the stock's top three shareholders.
In May, both S&P 500 nuclear plays stuck by earlier full-year guidance. At the time, Constellation Energy maintained its initial 2025 guidance from Jan. 10 of adjusted earnings between $8.90-$9.60 per share, keeping its expectations unchanged since announcing the acquisition of Calpine, a privately owned natural gas and geothermal power generator, for $26.6 billion.
Vistra, like Constellation, reaffirmed in May its expectation of adjusted profit coming in between $5.5 billion and $6.1 billion.
Constellation Energy shares shot up 91% last year, while Vistra stock rocketed 258%, placing both among the top S&P 500 stocks and the best 100 stocks of 2024. So far in the 2025 stock market, Constellation Energy is up around 55%, placing it 12th in the S&P 500 index. Vistra has galloped 52% higher this year, good for 18th best in the S&P 500.
Constellation Energy fell around 2% to 337 at Wednesday's stock market open. Fellow S&P 500 component Vistra declined 4.3% to 200.56 at the stock market's opening bell. Both stocks declined Tuesday even as nuclear-related stocks generally moved higher.
In early June, Constellation Energy signed a 20-year energy deal to fuel Facebook-parent Meta Platform's (META) "AI ambitions."
Meta will purchase more than 1,100 megawatts of nuclear energy from Constellation's Clinton Clean Energy Center in Clinton, Ill. The deal will support the relicensing and continued operations of the Clinton nuclear facility, beginning in June of 2027. The S&P 500 company added that the deal with Meta will expand Clinton's energy output by 30 megawatts. Constellation did not reveal financial details of the arrangement.
Constellation Energy's 20-year deal with Meta comes nine months after it sealed a two-decade contract with Microsoft (MSFT) in September to provide nuclear power for the tech giant's data centers.
The deal with Meta came after Constellation Energy executives suggested on its Q1 earnings call they were working on multiple deals this year.
The second-quarter earnings from the S&P 500 nuclear giants land after Politico reported late Monday that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, also the interim NASA head, will announce plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon.
According to documents reviewed by Politico, the Trump White House is ordering the agency to solicit industry proposals for a 100 kilowatt nuclear reactor to launch by 2030. NASA previously funded research into a 40 kilowatt reactor for use on the moon, with plans to have a reactor ready for launch by the early 2030s, Politico reported.
President Donald Trump in late May signed four executive orders to support the nuclear energy sector and put in place a "total and complete reform" of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC.
Trump's 'Consequential' Shift In Energy Policy Fuels Upgrades For These Stocks
Constellation Energy stock has been cutting back and forth around a traditional 342 buy point following a July 30 breakout , according to MarketSurge.
Vistra stock touched an all-time high of 216.85 on Tuesday before retreating. The S&P 500 stock has rebounded 132% from an early April low.
Meanwhile, nuclear-related stocks rallied broadly Tuesday as BWX Technologies (BWXT), the U.S. Navy's main nuclear reactor supplier, reported much better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue late Monday.
BWXT stock soared 17.8% to 181.98 in Tuesday's stock market. Uranium miner Centrus Energy (LEU) gained 1.7% Tuesday before reporting significantly better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue after the stock market close. This was primarily due to favorable pricing on contracts for nuclear fuel. LEU stock leapt 16.5% higher early Wednesday.
Among other nuclear-related stocks, Oklo (OKLO) jumped 10.4% to 84.36 Tuesday, gaining momentum after surging nearly 7% on Monday. Oklo is focused on the emerging small modular reactor, or SMR, technology.
The startup is looking to bring its first commercial SMR online in late 2027 or early 2028. No operating SMRs now exist, but a number of companies are developing the technology. SMRs aim to provide power at the company level, drastically reducing the time and cost of permitting, constructing and operating full-scale nuclear facilities.
Fellow SMR-focused plays NuScale Power (SMR) and Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE) advanced 4% and 6.7%, respectively, in Tuesday's stock market.
Canada-based uranium refiner Cameco (CCJ) fell around 1% in stock market trade.
Cameco, which owns a 49% stake in nuclear reactor builder Westinghouse, reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Friday, with quarterly profit soaring 410%.
Investors can keep tabs on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
Constellation Energy stock has a 91 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The S&P 500 stock also has a 91 Relative Strength Rating. The nuclear stock has a 41 EPS Rating.
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