A written WSJ Markets A.M. newsletter (no video), so the "At" column links to the article. The nuclear names carry the column's argued view; the "Stocks I'm Watching" items (GNRC, LEN, FANG, XOM) are one-line news blurbs, tabled as Neutral news mentions. Volvo Cars (Stockholm-listed) is left in the key points, not tabled; Bloomberg, UBS, Citigroup, OpenAI/Sam Altman are incidental. Research legend: QT Qualtrim · SA Seeking Alpha · STK Stock Analysis.
| Ticker | Name | Research | View | What the article said | At |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEG | Constellation Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | "A safer way to play nuclear" — a large, profitable utility with a reactor fleet — but it has become unusually popular for a staid sector: Citigroup puts it on its list of the most "crowded" utility stocks. | read ↗ |
| NRG | NRG Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Paired with Constellation as the safer, profitable reactor-fleet utility way to play nuclear — and likewise on Citi's list of the most "crowded" utility stocks. | read ↗ |
| Holtec | Holtec International (private) | — | Neutral | Nuclear service provider that, per Bloomberg, postponed the IPO expected to price today — "the latest bit of bad news" for the sector. | read ↗ |
| MSFT | Microsoft | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Passing mention: among the hyperscalers that signed "behind the meter" nuclear power deals with owners of existing or soon-online plants — which, for nuclear, just diverts power utilities could have sold. | read ↗ |
| AMZN | Amazon | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | Passing mention: signed "behind the meter" nuclear power deals, is a financial backer of X-Energy, and (news blurb) is buying data-center generators from Generac in a $2.4bn deal. | read ↗ |
| GNRC | Generac Holdings | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | News mention ("Stocks I'm Watching"): shares up more than 30% premarket after the backup-power company signed a $2.4 billion deal to sell data-center generators to Amazon. | read ↗ |
| LEN | Lennar | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | News mention ("Stocks I'm Watching"): cut its full-year home delivery target citing interest-rate pressure and worsening housing conditions as Q3 revenue and profit fell; shares fell premarket. | read ↗ |
| FANG | Diamondback Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | News mention ("Stocks I'm Watching"): its largest shareholder sold nearly $2 billion of shares Tuesday per filings; stock fell 8% and was ticking lower premarket. | read ↗ |
| XOM | ExxonMobil | QT · SA · STK · FA | Neutral | News mention ("Stocks I'm Watching"): close to a preliminary deal to explore investments in several Venezuelan oil fields — a potential return nearly two decades after its exit. | read ↗ |
| OKLO | Oklo | QT · SA · STK · FA | Negative | "The hottest of the bunch," originally backed by Sam Altman, rallied nearly 3,000% in a little over a year; the road has been longer and bumpier than investors expected, and valuations across the group "mostly remain too hot" — wait for nuclear to go out of fashion. | read ↗ |
| SMR | NuScale Power | QT · SA · STK · FA | Negative | Unprofitable small-modular-reactor company; UBS downgraded it to "sell," questioning its path to profitability, spooking investors — even though its design appears closer to commercialization than some peers. | read ↗ |
| LEU | Centrus Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Negative | Named as a nuclear-fuel provider that drew huge investor interest in the rally; lumped with the speculative cohort whose valuations "mostly remain too hot" even after steep drawdowns. | read ↗ |
| XE | X-Energy | QT · SA · STK · FA | Negative | Amazon-backed modular reactor and fuel company whose IPO this year "looks depleted": up 23% on day one to a nearly $12bn market cap, then dropped steadily, shedding more than half its value. | read ↗ |
A jargon-free summary of how each nuclear name is framed in the column. (Plain-language companion to the table above; renders on the ticker's consolidated page.)
Constellation is a big, profitable power company that owns a large fleet of existing nuclear plants. Jakab calls companies like it the "safer" way to invest in nuclear: instead of betting on reactor designs that may take years to make money, you own plants that already sell electricity today — the kind tech giants want for AI data centers.
The catch is popularity. Utilities are normally sleepy stocks, but this one has attracted so many investors that Citigroup lists it among the most "crowded" utility stocks — when everyone owns the same thing, there are fewer new buyers left and more people ready to sell on bad news. So: a sound business, but not an overlooked one.
NRG is paired with Constellation as a large, profitable power producer with nuclear exposure — the lower-risk way to benefit from demand for always-on electricity. Same caveat: Citi counts it among the most crowded utility stocks, so the safety is partly priced in.
Oklo is developing small reactors and has no meaningful business yet — its value rests on the future. Originally backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman, it was the hottest nuclear stock, rising nearly 3,000% in a little over a year. Jakab's point is that building reactors is slow and bumpy, and even after big falls the speculative nuclear names are still priced as though the good outcome is certain. His advice is patience: nuclear goes in and out of fashion about once a decade, and the better time to buy is when nobody wants it.
NuScale designs "small modular reactors" — factory-built reactors meant to be cheaper and quicker than giant plants. Its design is further along than many rivals', but the company loses money, and UBS just downgraded it to "sell" because it doubts how NuScale gets to profitability. Being technically ahead is not the same as being a good stock at today's price.
Centrus makes enriched uranium fuel for reactors. It is named as one of the fuel suppliers that drew a flood of investor money during the nuclear craze, and Jakab lumps it with the group whose valuations still look too hot even after steep drops — a good story that the price already reflects.
X-Energy builds modular reactors and their fuel and is backed by Amazon. It went public this year, jumped 23% on its first day to a value near $12 billion, and has since lost more than half of that. Jakab uses it as evidence that the nuclear excitement is fading — and he doesn't think the sell-off has gone far enough yet to make these names bargains.
Summary derived from Spencer Jakab's WSJ Markets A.M. newsletter (text saved in transcript.txt) for personal study. Not investment advice. © The Wall Street Journal / Dow Jones for source material.