This Profit Powerhouse Nuclear Stock Is Up 264% In 2025. Is It Too Late to Buy?

2025 was a banner year for nuclear energy stocks, and it should be no wonder why. Nuclear power is likely the best solution to powering the data centers required for the rollout of artificial intelligence (AI). And Centrus Energy's (NYSE: LEU) stock performance is a testament to last year's run-up in nuclear. It ended 2025 up 264% and is up another 26% to start this year.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers already consume around 1.5% of all the electricity produced globally, and that has grown at a rate of 12% per year over the last five years.And, in the IEA's base-case estimate, data center energy demand is set to grow to 3% of global electricity by 2030, double what it is today.

To meet that demand, the U.S. Department of Energy is planning on tripling America's nuclear energy production by the middle of the century.

Interestingly enough, northern Virginia, the epicenter of America's data center construction boom, is right in Centrus Energy's backyard.

How does nuclear energy work?

Bethesda-based Centrus Energy is America's top nuclear fuel refining company. Nuclear energy isn't as simple as coal; you can't just pull the uranium out of the ground and burn it to unlock its energy potential.

Uranium needs to be refined into usable fuel. In nature, 99% of all uranium is the U-238 isotope with 146 neutrons. It is radioactive, but it's not particularly reactive. Unless it's paired with plutonium in some specialized reactors, it can't be used for power generation.

Centrus takes the raw U-238 pulled out of the ground by uranium miners and turns it into U-235 by stripping off three neutrons to give it a total of 143. That makes it into the fissile (capable of being split by neutron bombardment) uranium we use in reactors.

Image source: Getty Images.

It's a complicated process, one which Centrus has refined at its production facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Coincidentally, that's also where the uranium and plutonium for the Manhattan Project were created.

That facility is absolutely critical to America's energy independence.

When the U.S. shut down its last Cold-War-era enrichment plants in 2013, it was left without any domestic industrial-scale uranium enrichment capacity. But in 2015, the Department of Energy reported that Centrus' AC100 centrifuge was the most advanced and lowest-risk option to meet the nation's long-term needs.

In the nearly 11 years that followed, Centrus took that ball and ran. In 2025, the company went on an incredible bull run, shooting from just below $70 per share to a peak of $436 in October before pulling back. Over the past 12 months, the stock is up 315%. So, after its late-2025 retreat, is now the time to buy Centrus or has it reached its growth potential?

Let's take a look at its financial data, and I'll let you be the judge of that.

Consistent revenue growth makes this stock attractive

For Q3 2025, Centrus recorded total revenue of $74.9 million, up 30% over Q3 2024. For the first nine months of 2025, revenue totaled $302.5 million, up just 4.1% over the first nine months of 2024. However, the company's operating income leapt from $2.9 million after the first nine months of 2024 to $37.4 million after the first nine months of 2025, an increase of 1,189.6%.

Over the past three years, Centrus has grown its revenue quickly but steadily at a 20% compound annual growth rate. And I foresee that growth continuing as the government has banned the import of Russian uranium following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Those imports used to make up 24% of America's utility enrichment purchases. That's a gap Centrus is helping to fill, and it creates a secular tailwind for the company.

Regardless of any future domestic nuclear expansion, this country still generates about 20% of its electricity from nuclear plants. So, whether it comes from Russia or from Tennessee, the uranium must flow.

Speaking of growth, Centrus projects 40% growth in nuclear energy over the next 30 years, regardless, even without any new climate legislation. That Department of Energy goal of tripling American nuclear production by 2050 would get the U.S. close to net-zero emissions. That's also something Centrus has factored into its math.

The company also grew its cash reserves considerably, from $671.4 million at the end of 2024 to $1.63 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025. That means Centrus could pay off the entirety of its $1.21 billion in most recent quarter (MRQ) debt in one go and have $400 million left over.

Centrus was founded back in 1998, but this is a company whose moment has come, and it is doggedly pursuing the opportunity laid out before it. Especially after the pullback in late 2025, Centrus is looking mighty attractive at the moment.

James Hires has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.