The last quarter of 2025 was brutal for NuScale Power (SMR +1.28%), with its shares tumbling 61%, including a 29.2% decline in December, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
NuScale Power, however, is already making the heads turn in the new year. The nuclear energy stock has surged a staggering 41% already, so far in January.
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Why NuScale Power stock tumbled in December
NuScale Power stock crashed 55% in November on the back of a significant loss for the third quarter, stock issues, and multiple analyst downgrades.
The pessimism spilled over to December when NuScale Power shareholders approved a massive increase in authorized shares from 332 million to 662 million, giving the company flexibility to issue new shares to raise capital.
In between, NuScale Power's largest shareholder and engineering giant, Fluor (FLR 1.03%) announced plans to sell is entire stake in the nuclear energy start-up by the end of the second quarter of 2026 to cash in on its investment.
The potential share dilution frightened investors, and they continued to sell NuScale Power shares through the end of 2025.
However, NuScale Power stock has shrugged off all its losses from December and is surging this month, with over 40% gains as of this writing, as companies continue to warm up to nuclear energy amid the Trump administration's aggressive moves to boost the industry.
NYSE: SMR
Key Data Points
Is NuScale stock's dramatic recovery sustainable in 2026?
This month, tech giant Meta Platforms announced landmark nuclear energy deals for up to 6.6 gigawatts of power with companies like Oklo and Vistra, primarily to support its artificial intelligence data centers.
Although NuScale Power wasn't part of any deal, Meta's huge investments in nuclear energy reflect the kind of potential that companies like NuScale Power have. NuScale Power's VOYGR small modular reactors (SMRs) are built on proprietary modules, where each module can generate 77 Mwe (megawatt electric) of power, and each VOYGR plant can scale up to 12 modules. The scalability and size of SMRs make them a viable choice for on-site power, even in remote and constricted locations.
On Jan. 9, Bank of America analyst Dimple Gosai also upgraded NuScale Power stock's rating from "underperform" to "neutral" while cutting its price target to $28 per share from $34 per share. That price target still represents an almost 40% upside even after the stock's rally in January so far.
Although NuScale Power has an exclusive partnership with ENTRA1 Energy to commercialize its technology, its first SMR could still take years to come online and generate revenue. A lot could go wrong in between, making NuScale Power a highly speculative stock.
