NuScale Stock Could Be a Hidden Gem for Nuclear Energy Investors in 2025

For over a decade, most nuclear energy stocks underperformed the S&P 500. Back in February 2011, the world's top nuclear energy exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- the Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEMKT: URA) -- set a record high of $92.31. By March 2020, it had sunk to an all-time low of $5.97.

During that period, the month-end spot price of uranium fell from $94.74 to $30.82. That decline can be attributed to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which drove many countries to rein in their nuclear expansion plans; the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced uranium miners to suspend their operations; and a strong U.S. dollar.

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But today, the Global X Uranium ETF trades at about $41 and uranium's spot price has risen to nearly $60. That recovery was driven by new low-carbon climate initiatives, the rapid expansion of the power-hungry cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) markets, as well as political shakeups and military conflicts in uranium-rich regions. The world's demand also quickly outstripped the available supply of uranium, which had been throttled by the mine and mill closures.

That recovery drove the bulls back toward nuclear stocks over the past year. One of those stocks was NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR), a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs) that set a record high of $53.43 on Oct. 15 before pulling back to about $19. Let's see why this volatile nuclear stock might still be a hidden gem next year.

What does NuScale do?

NuScale's SMRs can be installed in vessels that are only 9 feet wide and 65 feet high. They're pre-fabricated and assembled on site to reduce the time, labor, and expenses needed to construct a nuclear power plant. Their modular design allows them to be deployed in areas that aren't ideal for larger nuclear reactors.

It's the only company that has received Standard Design Approvals (SDAs) from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its SMRs. The NRC greenlit its 50 MWe design in January 2023 and its 77 MWe design -- which takes up 1% of the space of a conventional nuclear reactor but generates roughly the same amount of power -- this May.

NuScale originally planned to deploy six of its 77 MWe reactors in Idaho to power a 462 MWe plant, but its soaring costs forced it to abandon that ambitious project in 2023. Since then, it's generated most of its revenue overseas by working as a subcontractor for Fluor's (NYSE: FLR) planned construction of a similar 462 MWe plant for Romania's RoPower. That project is still in the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase, but it should move forward after its final investment decision (FID) in 2026.

NuScale generates most of its revenue from those FEED studies, but it hasn't sold any of its SMRs yet. This September, it returned to the U.S. by agreeing to deploy up to six gigawatts (6,000 megawatts) of its SMR capacity across a seven-state service region for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), but those plants won't come online until 2032.

Why could NuScale's stock be a hidden gem?

With a market cap of $5.2 billion, NuScale might seem ridiculously overvalued at 115 times this year's sales. It also isn't expected to break even anytime soon.

But from 2024 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue to grow at a CAGR of 98% from $37 million to $289 million as it deploys its first SMRs in Romania and moves forward with its TVA project. The growth of the cloud and AI markets should also drive more big tech companies to invest in SMRs as a cleaner and more cost-efficient source of power.

NuScale's stock still looks pricey at 18 times its 2027 sales, but the nascent SMR market could grow at a whopping CAGR of 42.31% from 2024 to 2035, according to Research and Markets. As a first mover in this nascent market, NuScale could have plenty of room to grow over the next decade.

As of this writing, stubbornly high Treasury yields, concerns about the stock market's stretched valuations, and the unpredictable policy shifts in the U.S. are all driving investors away from speculative stocks like NuScale. But in 2026, some of those headwinds could dissipate as NuScale advances its projects and secures more customers. If that happens, NuScale's stock could bounce back quickly -- but investors should still brace for a lot of near-term volatility.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.