Nuclear Energy Stocks Create A Buzz On Wall Street

Wall Street has fallen head over heels for nuclear and next-generation energy stocks as power demand from artificial intelligence hyperscalers goes into hyperdrive. U.S. electricity demand remained flat at roughly 4,000 to 4,200 terawatt-hours since around 2010.

The AI boom marks a paradigm shift for energy needs after technology companies drove economic and stock market expansion in the post-financial crisis world without straining the grid.

Data centers could jump from 4% of total U.S. power demand in 2023 to 12% in 2030. This backdrop is why prices from the biggest U.S. power auction, held by grid operator PJM Interconnection, surged 22% to another new all-time high earlier this week.

The U.S. government aims to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, helping spur innovation by cutting red tape, increasing tax incentives, and more.

AI hyperscalers Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft have all raced to secure more nuclear power and made deals to speed up the next-gen nuclear tech, supported by their collective trillion-dollar balance sheet.

Nuclear energy stocks represent a direct investment in artificial intelligence, the expansion of energy infrastructure, and long-term economic growth.

Along with GEV, nuclear standouts Constellation Energy, Talen, Rolls-Royce, NuScale, and others have crushed the market in the last year. The Range Nuclear Renaissance Index ETF (NUKZ), which holds these stocks, along with many others, has climbed 130% since its debut in January 2024 to blow past the Nasdaq’s 36%.

Despite the strong performances of nuclear energy stocks in 2025 and over the last few years, investors can still get in near the ground floor of the AI-boosted nuclear energy renaissance, since it will be measured in decades.

Zachs, 23 July 2025

A nuclear energy stock, which has already featured in Quentinvest, is Constellation Energy. The chart looks great. The company is due to report imminently, which may lead to some turbulence, but the long-term outlook is promising.

CEG has a great story driving its growth.

The short story here is that we’re seeing a very, very favorable environment. The business updates from the big tech companies, where they’ve essentially doubled down on their capital and growth strategies, reinforces Constellation’s overall strategic plan, the importance of America’s nuclear energy to meet the coming demand, and the strong logic of the Calpine acquisition.

While we think there are some out there, who have overstated the amount of new demand for their own reasons, we’re confident that the demand can be met, and that the markets will respond with demand response and new generation as needed. But importantly, even a more rational view of new demand will give us ample opportunity to support both in front of and behind-the-meter data center development at significant scale. And as we look at both the cost of new entry as well as the amount of time it takes to bring new power generation on, we believe that the options for clean and reliable energy from our assets will be a compelling and durable strategic advantage for decades. This opportunity, in turn, will allow us to make needed investments in clean and reliable nuclear energy, so that we can re-license and keep running these one-of-a-kind assets through 2060 and beyond for America.

Joe Dominguez, CEO, Constellation Energy Group, Q1 2025, 6 May 2025

The shares were lower in May, but listen to what the company had to say.

Anyway, we love the deal [purchase of Celpine at half estimated value]. On the other hand, we don’t so much love the equity volatility that our owners have experienced this quarter. But so much of that is driven by macroeconomic factors that we cannot control. In our opinion, our stock price does not reflect the full value of the particular opportunities we have here, the double-digit-based earnings growth through the end of the decade or the prospect of securing additional above-the-PTC pricing deals.

As you can see from the disclosures, we have about $1 billion left in our buyback authorization from the board. I’ll tell you, we would have loved to have been in the market buying at these prices during the quarter. But as you’ve seen before, there are times where we have been unable to be in the market due to possessing material non-public information. We do look forward to sharing great news with you soon and resuming our buyback program at these compelling stock price levels.

Joe Dominguez, CEO, Constellation Energy Group, Q1 2025, 6 May 2025

The volatility he is talking about is that from late January to early April, the shares fell from $351 to $161. By 6 May, they had rallied to $275, and they have since recovered to the old peaks around $350.

This highlights the attractions of staggering your buying when investing in these exciting shares.

Dominguez makes a strong case for nuclear.

With new cost data firming up, it’s pretty clear that nuclear simply wins the match in every single dimension; cost, reliability, predictability of firm prices for 20 years. What other resource could offer a 20-year fixed price? I can’t do that with my gas machines. I can’t do that with renewables. The speed to execution, the sustainability value, the resilience value, the durability and policy support, all of that makes nuclear the clear winner, and folks, that’s why I think people are wanting to contract with us and they don’t care whether it’s in front-of-the-meter or behind-the-meter.

[Behind the meter refers to energy supplied directly to the customer. These can give the customer more control than front of the meter systems but, as CEG, says many customers are not that bothered].

Joe Dominguez, CEO, Constellation Energy Group, Q1 2025, 6 May 2025

Share Recommendations

Range Nuclear Renaissance ETF. NUKZ

Constellation Energy Group. CEG

Strategy – More On Forward Bets

I am looking again at the minimum forward bet on Meta Platforms, a bet of 0.1 of a point, which is equivalent to buying one share. If you select a March 2026 forward bet, you will see a sell price and a buy price. Below these, you will see a constantly changing number which, when I last looked, was 300. This is the difference between the bid and offered price, which makes it the cost of doing the deal.

I have since learned that automatic rollover takes place quarterly and each time you pay the spread. Even so, the cost of dealing with Meta Platforms, at least, is incredibly low. On my calculations, 0.15pc. It seems a little too good to be true, so the next thing is to learn by doing it. If the numbers are correct, this makes $-cost averaging highly practical at least on these mega-cap shares.

Since Constellation Energy is a highly successful business with a massive tailwind, I am adding the shares to my Top 20 Praetorian elite. I had a look at the spread for forward bets on Constellation Group. They are higher than for Meta Platforms, but still seem to be very low. The key to the spreads is liquidity, and the shares I choose for my Top 20 are mostly highly liquid.