Forget Oklo and NuScale. Centrus Energy Is the Safer Way to Bet on Nuclear.

Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) and NuScale (NYSE: SMR) often attract significant attention as next-gen nuclear energy plays. Oklo's microreactors and NuScale's small modular reactors (SMRs) are both smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, and they can be deployed in remote areas. Their reactors can also be prefabricated to reduce the cost and time required to build a plant.

However, Oklo doesn't expect to deploy its first microreactors until late 2027 or early 2028. NuScale doesn't expect to deploy its first SMRs until the early 2030s. Both stocks also look expensive relative to their inconsistent near-term revenues. So instead of investing in those two speculative and volatile stocks, it might be smarter to invest in Centrus Energy (NYSE: LEU), which already plays a crucial role in the resurgent nuclear energy market.

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What does Centrus Energy do?

Centrus Energy is one of the few U.S. companies licensed to sell low-enriched uranium (LEU), the fuel used in most commercial nuclear reactors. It's also the only publicly listed U.S. producer of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) -- which provides higher energy density and fuel efficiency than traditional LEU in smaller nuclear reactors.

Centrus once enriched its own LEU on a commercial scale, but it shut down those plants in 2013 because it became cheaper to import enriched uranium. Today, it mainly buys large quantities of overseas LEU and resells it to domestic utilities. It locks its customers into medium- to long-term contracts, which gives it a predictable stream of recurring revenues.

Centrus is often considered a middleman, but sanctions on Russian nuclear fuel and the U.S. push for energy independence are prompting it to restart its domestic enrichment operations. It began producing HALEU domestically three years ago, and it plans to bring its commercial-scale LEU operations back online in Ohio by the end of this decade.

How fast is Centrus Energy growing?

The nuclear energy market fizzled out for about a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. But over the past few years, the market warmed up again as new decarbonization initiatives, safer nuclear technologies, and the growth of the power-hungry cloud infrastructure, AI, and industrial automation markets drove more countries to restart their nuclear projects.

As one of the largest LEU suppliers in the U.S., Centrus clearly benefits from the nuclear market's recovery. From 2022 to 2025, its revenue and EPS grew at CAGRs of 15% and 5%, respectively. Its backlog (from its LEU and HALEU sales commitments) reached $3.0 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, up from $2.3 billion at the end of 2025. Most of those orders came from U.S. utilities and the U.S. Department of Energy.

That growing backlog is equivalent to 6.7 times its $449 million in revenue in 2025 -- so there's still plenty of pent-up, visible demand for its nuclear fuel. From 2025 to 2027, analysts expect its revenue to grow at a 3% CAGR -- but for its EPS to decline moderately as it brings its domestic LEU enrichment plants back online and upgrades its older facilities.

Is it the right time to buy Centrus?

Based on that murky outlook, Centrus' stock might seem pricey at 47 times next year's earnings and six times next year's sales. But its profitability should eventually improve as it completes that expansion, and it will remain a linchpin of the nuclear market for the foreseeable future.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the world's nuclear capacity to increase by more than 50% by 2050, so Centrus could have plenty of room to run over the next few decades. It might not be as exciting as Oklo or NuScale, but it's a more reliable stock in this wobbly market.

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