Al Root

Nuclear energy is having its " renaissance," according to brokerage firm Mizuho. That spells opportunity for investors.

Barron's identified 17 stocks that can benefit from nuclear trends.

"Interest in nuclear power is growing, especially as load growth stress-tests traditional gas generation supply chains and more so as net zero goals require hyperscalers and data centers to move to net zero carbon sources," wrote Mizuho analyst Maheep Mandloi in a Monday report.

In other words, AI data centers need a lot of juice to keep training artificial-intelligence models that churn out answers on ChatGPT -- just as Teslas do to drive themselves. What's more, the companies responsible for AI don't want to seem like polluters.

Enter nuclear power. It's a solution for AI hyperscalers, including Microsoft and Amazon.com. The demand growth from those two and their peers will eventually become business for a host of companies with nuclear technology. New reactors are "likely greater than 10 years away in the U.S., but we expect the supply chain could start seeing orders in two to three years," added Mandloi.

Which companies, though? Mizuho took a "cross-platform" view, looking at utilities, utility suppliers, and nuclear-service providers. Barron's added nuclear-fuel providers to that mix. The result: a list of 17 stocks for which nuclear has become part of the story.

Four utilities to follow include Constellation Energy, Vistra, Talen Energy, and Nextera Energy. Reactor suppliers include GE Vernova, Oklo, and NuScale Power. Service and parts suppliers include Flowserve, Crane, Curtiss-Wright, BWX Technologies, and Emerson Electric. Companies operating in the fuel supply chain include Cameco, Uranium Energy, Solstice Advanced Materials, Centrus Energy, and Energy Fuels.

The amount of revenue that comes from nuclear varies by each company. GE Vernova's largest business, for instance, is making natural-gas powered turbines for power generation. Within the nuclear business, it provides services and designs small modular reactors via a joint venture with Hitachi.

A Mizuho "top pick" in the nuclear area is the industrial automation and process control company Emerson Electric. It "dominates nuclear automation with about 90% installed base share in global reactors," added Mizuho analyst Brett Linzey.

Mizuho rates GE Vernova Hold, but Vernova shares remain one of the favorite reactor stocks on Wall Street. Overall, 64% of analysts covering GE Vernova stock rate the shares Buy, according to Bloomberg. The average Buy-rating ratio for a stock in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The Buy-rating ratios for Oklo and NuScale are 53% and 41%, respectively.

Among utilities, Vistra and Talen Energy are the favorites, with Buy-rating ratios of 87% and 94%, respectively. The ratios for Constellation and NextEra shares are about 74% and 70%, respectively. Not bad, but trailing the other two. Valuation might have something to do with that. Vistra and Talen trade for less than 20 times estimated 2026 earnings. NextEra stock trades for about 21 times. Constellation shares trade at about 30 times.

All the nuclear stocks mentioned are more expensive than they were a year ago. Investors, to some extent, have caught on to the nuclear trade. The stocks listed are in different industries with different fundamentals, but a typical price/earnings ratio for a nuclear stock is currently about 33 times estimated next year's earnings, up from 26 times a year ago.

Among the other suppliers of parts and services, Crane and BWX edged out Flowserve and Curtiss-Wright, although all have Buy-rating ratios above 70%. Those are the Street's favorites.

Cameco, Uranium Energy, and Energy Fuel all have Buy-rating ratios above 80%. Those are the Street favorites within the nuclear-fuel supply chain.

Reviewing analysts' opinions of nuclear stocks, of course, is only a start; after the cursory review comes the harder work of understanding and valuing the individual businesses.

Still, investors need to start somewhere. And given the new nuclear optimism, brushing up on the sector is a good idea.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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November 17, 2025 15:58 ET (20:58 GMT)

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