Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) stock dropped 15.4% over the past week through Monday’s close, hitting a fresh 52-week low while the broader Nasdaq 100 fell just 3.7% over the same period.
NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) declined 15.1% over the same stretch, confirming that the selloff was sector-wide rather than tied to any company-specific setback.
The sharpest single-day blow landed on October 14, when a hotter-than-expected September inflation report sent the 10-year Treasury yield climbing to 5.26%.
Oklo shed 8.6% that day alone, while NuScale dropped roughly 10%, illustrating how sensitive pre-revenue nuclear companies are to shifts in interest rates.
The core problem is straightforward: when bonds are yielding more than 5%, profits that are years away are worth considerably less in present-value terms.
Friday brought another 6.8% decline for Oklo with no company-specific news driving the move, erasing Thursday’s partial 3.3% recovery in a single session.
Even positive developments failed to slow the slide, as the stock continued falling after the Department of Energy selected Oklo’s Groves 2 isotope facility for its Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program on October 13.
Centrus Energy (LEU) fell 4% alongside Oklo on Monday, pointing to broader pressure across uranium and nuclear fuel supply chain names during the week.
The financing picture remains the central concern for investors, with analysts projecting Oklo will burn through roughly $6.5 billion more in cash before 2030, a figure that exceeds the company’s $5.1 billion market value.
Oklo held $3.0 billion in cash and marketable securities as of June 30, a buffer that looks increasingly thin against that projected spending requirement.
Revenue is not expected to close the gap anytime soon, with analysts forecasting just $8.9 million in 2027 and $122 million in 2029.
CFO Craig Bealmear stated in August that two customers have already paid into the build, though stock issuance is still doing most of the heavy lifting on the funding side.
Oklo signed a $1 billion at-the-market equity program on September 11, and at Monday’s close, deploying that full amount would dilute existing shareholders by roughly one-fifth of the company.
The mean analyst price target has slipped to $75, down from approximately $89 at June 30 and well below the peak of around $117 reached in January.
Piper Sandler on Monday cut its price target to $49 from $55 while maintaining an Overweight rating, a target that still represents roughly 80% upside from Monday’s closing price.
The third-quarter earnings report due in November is widely seen as the next meaningful catalyst, with investors watching for a definitive Centrus fuel supply deal or updated customer-funding terms that could shift the financing outlook.
If Treasury yields ease in coming months, nuclear stocks could recover as sharply as they have fallen, given that rate sensitivity, rather than business deterioration, has driven most of the recent damage.
