NuScale Power Just Dropped 25% in a Month: Nuke Your Shares Now, or Hunker Down and Hold?

Nuclear power stocks have moved hard this fall, and NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR) has fallen further than its closest peers. NuScale Power stock is down 25% over the past month to $4.99 in afternoon trading. That slide includes a 5% decline from the prior close; SMR stock’s 52-week high is $23.45.

The pressure has remained even as the company moved from design work into physical production of its first commercial reactor module, and shareholders now have to weigh NuScale Power’s regulatory lead against a long, uncertain road to meaningful revenue.

What Drove NuScale Power’s Monthlong Slide

NuScale Power reported Q3 2026 results on November 5, posting a loss of $0.11 per share that beat the consensus estimate of a $0.12 loss. Quarterly revenue at the company came to $281,000, missing the $3.83 million estimate and falling 96.6% year over year. That collapse was mechanical, since the prior-year quarter included front-end engineering and design work for Romania’s RoPower project that has no 2026 equivalent.

CEO John Hopkins of NuScale Power struck an positive tone in the company’s release. “This was a significant quarter for NuScale as we progressed from development to physical production of our first commercial NuScale Power Module,” he stated. He pointed to a fabrication agreement with Doosan Enerbility for the upper reactor coolant system. On the earnings call, Hopkins also noted this. A pending Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power purchase agreement (PPA) comes before any order: “The PPA in itself is not a sale of modules.”

Checking on the peers, Oklo (NYSE:OKLO | OKLO Price Prediction) stock is down 23% over the past month to $24.81, even after the stock jumped on November 6 following updates on its reactors. Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) stock is down 22% over the past month to $104.92. Both declines are a bit smaller than NuScale Power’s, which suggests the renewed selling after a sharp post-earnings rally hit the whole nuclear group.

How NuScale Power, Oklo and Centrus Energy Make Money

NuScale Power designs small modular reactor Power Modules and plans to sell them to plant owners under original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements. The company’s design holds the only U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certification in the small modular reactor industry, and NuScale Power relies on a broad network of specialized suppliers.

Oklo takes a build-own-operate approach with its Aurora powerhouses, selling electricity directly to customers such as data center operators, and that model keeps long-term power revenue in-house, though Oklo carries construction and licensing risk itself and doesn’t yet hold an NRC design certification.

Centrus Energy sits upstream as a uranium enricher that produces low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium for utilities, reactor developers and the government. As a fuel supplier, Centrus Energy can benefit whichever reactor designs win, and its existing contracts already generate revenue.

Why the Bulls Still Back NuScale Power

The bulls start with regulation, since NuScale Power’s design was the first small modular reactor to win NRC approval, giving it a head start rivals have to match. Demand is the second pillar. The Department of Energy projects data centers could account for up to 12% of U.S. electrical demand by 2028, driven by artificial intelligence development (we picked five ways to play the nuclear restart, utilities and fuel suppliers included, in a free report here).

Wall Street analysts carry a consensus price target of $8.59 on NuScale Power, with 1 Strong Buy and 5 Buy ratings on the stock. A cash and investment balance of $1.9 billion gives the company room to fund first-article fabrication. After a decline this steep, some of the bad news may already be reflected in the price.

What Worries the Bears About NuScale Power

The bears point out that NuScale Power has no commercial reactor operating, and quarterly revenue in the hundreds of thousands of dollars is tiny against a market value of approximately $2.05 billion. Management offered no financial guidance, and analysts have noted that a TVA deployment agreement could slip into 2027.

Dilution is another concern, since NuScale Power issued nearly $985 million in equity so far in 2026. Analyst sentiment is mixed, with 8 Hold, 2 Sell and 2 Strong Sell ratings. A beta of 2.429 shows the stock moved far more than the broad market, which cuts both ways for anyone sitting through the decline.

NuScale Power’s Next Test Is a Signed TVA Deal

The next test for NuScale Power is whether the TVA power purchase agreement gets signed and opens the door to a binding module order. A signed deal could validate the company’s manufacturing push, while a slip into 2027 would leave the stock leaning on its cash balance and market patience.

Traders can watch for updates on first-article production at Doosan, which would show whether NuScale Power can build modules on schedule. Upside depends on the regulatory lead converting into orders, and downside comes from further delays and more share issuance. Investors may want to stay careful until NuScale Power’s TVA negotiation resolves.

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