NuScale's Revenue Fell 99%. Its Cash Pile Grew By $900 Million. Here's Why That's the Real Story.

NuScale (NYSE: SMR), a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs), posted its second-quarter results on Aug. 5. Its revenue plunged 99% year over year to just $75,000, but it ended the quarter with $1.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and liquid investments. That was an increase of $900 million from the first quarter and a near four-fold jump from a year ago. Let's see why NuScale's liquidity matters more than its declining revenue.

Why is NuScale's revenue growth so lumpy?

NuScale's SMRs are much smaller than conventional nuclear reactors. They're prefabricated to reduce the time, labor, and costs for building a nuclear power plant. A single SMR generates only 77 MWe, but it can be deployed with other reactors to construct higher-capacity plants. That modular flexibility makes its SMRs well-suited for remote areas.

Image source: Getty Images.

NuScale is working with Fluor (NYSE: FLR) to deploy six of its 77 MWe reactors in a 462 MWe plant for Romania's RoPower, and plans to deploy up to six gigawatts of its SMR capacity across seven states in the U.S. for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

However, it doesn't expect to actually deploy any of those SMRs until the early 2030s. Until then, most of its revenue will come from its front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies, licensing fees, and consulting work for those upcoming projects.

In late 2025, NuScale concluded its FEED Phase 2 work on its RoPower project. Without any comparable projects to fill that void immediately, its revenue plummeted in the first half of 2026. That's why its revenue growth is lumpy and not a clear indicator of its future returns.

Why does its liquidity matter more?

Instead, its huge increase in liquidity during the second quarter deserves more attention. That increase is mainly attributable to its $984.5 million in net proceeds from stock offerings in the first half of 2026. To achieve that, NuScale increased its Class A share count from 318.5 million shares at the end of 2025 to 410.4 million shares at the end of the second quarter of 2026.

On Aug. 11, NuScale filed to sell an additional $750 million in shares through an at-the-market offering. That dilution will continue for the foreseeable future, since its revenue growth is lumpy, it's racking up steep losses, and it won't deploy its first commercial SMRs until the next decade.

That's not a great look for a stock that still trades at 14 times its projected 2028 sales. That's also probably why its insiders were net sellers over the past 12 months, and why investors should carefully assess how quickly NuScale is actually burning through its cash.

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