Many publicly traded nuclear companies that received loans, contracts, or other financial incentives from Donald Trump’s administration have seen their stock prices fall after getting that support, according to Protos. The latest case is Vistra, the Ohio nuclear plant operator that was announced today as the recipient of a new $4.2 billion federal loan. Vistra shares are down 9% year-to-date.
Nuclear funding has not translated into stronger share prices
Protos said Trump’s administration has directed tens of billions of dollars in incentives to the nuclear industry over the past year. One example is an $80 billion proposal involving Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management that would have given the US government 20% of future profits or equity in the public-private partnership.
Cameco stock is down 3% year-to-date. Although its shares jumped 22% when that deal was announced in October, they now sit 12% below the level seen on the date of that announcement. Brookfield Asset Management, the other party in the deal, has lost 15% year-to-date and has performed even worse when measured from the October announcement date.
On October 29, nuclear power company NuScale said its private partner ENTRA1 Energy could receive up to $25 billion in US-Japanese investment under Trump’s international trade deal. Politico described ENTRA1 as a three-year-old startup with a skeleton staff. NuScale shares are down 81% since that announcement.
Company-by-company performance after loans, contracts, and awards
Protos listed a series of nuclear-related companies that secured federal backing and compared their stock performance after those announcements.
- In November 2025, Constellation Energy secured a $1 billion loan to restart its Crane nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Its stock is down 19% since that news.
- In December 2025, Holtec, which owns a nuclear plant in Michigan, received a $400 million award from the Energy Department after drawing at least six disbursements from a $1.52 billion guarantee that the Biden administration finalized. Holtec then suspended its IPO for retail shareholders this month.
- On January 6, 2026, Centrus Energy won a $900 million uranium enrichment task order from the US Department of Energy. Its shares are down 54% since receiving that Trump administration contract.
- On June 23, the Energy Department offered a conditional $17.5 billion loan for equipment on 10 Westinghouse reactors co-owned by Cameco. Cameco stock is down 15% since that date.
- On August 17, X-energy learned it would receive another $1 billion in Energy Department cost-sharing for nuclear generators. The company priced its April IPO at $23 per share, and the stock now trades below $15. It is also 10% below its intraday high on the day it received that $1 billion incentive from the Trump administration.
- On August 26, Trump’s US Army awarded up to $2.2 billion to nuclear microreactor builders, including BWX Technologies. BWX Technologies stock has traded flat since that news, after losing more than 20% year-to-date.
- On September 8, NextEra Energy closed on a federal loan of up to $1.9 billion to restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant. Within four weeks, NextEra stock was already down 7%.
The article also referenced Trump-linked crypto assets
The Protos piece also noted that Trump and Melania’s coins are down more than 95% from their all-time highs. It separately pointed readers to another article saying Trump-related American Bitcoin has lost more than 90% of its value.
The report’s central point is that large-scale government support for the nuclear sector has, in many of these cases, been followed by weaker share prices rather than gains.