The Smartest Nuclear Stock to Buy With $1,000 Right Now

If you want to invest in nuclear power stocks, I've got just one name for you: Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR).

Not Nano Nuclear Energy . Not NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR). Not Oklo -- none of the "SMR" start-up companies developing small modular nuclear reactors. None of them are profitable. According to forecasts from S&P Global Market Intelligence, none of them will be profitable for at least five more years -- and who knows what might happen between now and then.

And no, not Cameco Corporation or Denison Mines either. Even though the uranium mining companies are making money, they're not making enough money to justify their valuation.

But Fluor Corporation is.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why you should seriously consider investing in Fluor stock

Fluor Corporation is different. Profitable in each of its last three years, Fluor has earned more than $1.5 billion already this year and appears on course to easily top analyst forecasts for $1.6 billion in 2025 profit.

The company's business is growing, with revenue from urban solutions (engineering and construction work on advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and mining projects) increasing by 42% over the past three years, and revenue from energy solutions (primarily oil and gas projects, as well as renewable energy and nuclear) up 20%. This has offset declines elsewhere in the business, allowing for 15% growth in total revenue.

And the company's nuclear business looks especially well positioned for growth.

In addition to Fluor's involvement in SMR projects, both through its ownership stake in NuScale and otherwise, Fluor has a history of involvement in the engineering and construction of larger-scale nuclear power plants. Over a period of decades, Fluor has designed and built three nuclear power units, built another eight nuclear power units as a contractor, and "supported construction" on 10 more -- in addition to performing maintenance and upgrades work on about 90 separate 90 nuclear reactor units.

It's very likely to play a major role in the nascent nuclear renaissance in the United States.

Big plans for Big Nuclear

In May 2025, President Trump signed four executive orders promoting American nuclear power as a means of boosting energy supplies to power artificial intelligence data centers. The president's interest in advanced nuclear technology, such as SMR reactors, is clear from the text of these orders. But lately, it's become just as clear that he's also interested in larger nuclear plants.

Earlier this week, for example, The Wall Street Journal reported the White House is encouraging Japan to commit $80 billion to build eight new big nuclear reactors, as part of that nation's deal to invest $550 billion in the U.S. in exchange for winning lower tariff rates on imports to the United States.

Initial reports suggest that this investment will take the form of four sets of paired nuclear reactors at four separate sites, each capable of generating 1,100 megawatts of nuclear power, and each costing approximately $10 billion to build, excluding financing costs. Westinghouse would design and build the plants based on its AP1000 nuclear power plant design. Still, Fluor might serve as the engineering and construction contractor on the projects, given its experience in building prior AP1000 reactors in the U.S.

Or if the AP1000 is not chosen as the basis for the new nuclear power plants, Fluor might serve as a contractor on other companies' projects, based on other designs.

Valuing Fluor Corporation stock

Valuing Fluor stock is a little tricky. The company's market capitalization is $6.8 billion, but $1.8 billion of that is backed up by net cash on the balance sheet, reducing Fluor's enterprise value to $5 billion. Furthermore, Fluor owns a 38.9% stake in NuScale, currently worth about $2.2 billion -- arguably lowering Fluor's enterprise value even further, to $2.8 billion.

While calculating Fluor's real price tag, though, is tricky, it's relatively easy to determine that Fluor is an inexpensive stock.

Analysts expect Fluor to earn $360 million in net profit next year, for example, and generate $390 million in free cash flow. Depending on which figure you use, therefore, Fluor stock has an enterprise value of only 7.8 times forward earnings, or 7.2 times forward FCF. Both of these values appear inexpensive to me, relative to the 12% rate of earnings growth that analysts project for Fluor over the next three years.

When compared to the money-losing SMR nuclear start-ups in particular, all of which are expected to still be losing money three years from now, Fluor stock seems a much better bet to me.

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cameco and NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.