X-Energy, Inc. Class A Common Stock

X-Energy is developing the Xe-100, a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to serve both electricity and industrial heat customers, with a four-reactor configuration generating 320 MWe of electricity and each individual reactor producing 80 MWe of electricity or nearly 200 MW of thermal output. Through its partnership with Centrica, the company has identified Hartlepool in the U.K. as a preferred site for a potential Xe-100 fleet, and in September 2026 the two announced the Xe-100 had been accepted into the U.K.'s Generic Design Assessment process, a review expected to take approximately three years involving the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. Under the partnership, Centrica and X-Energy intend to deploy up to 6 GW of new nuclear capacity in the U.K., equivalent to roughly 10 to 20 Xe-100 power stations depending on the size of each installation. Together, Dow, Amazon and Centrica underpin a potential pipeline of 144 reactors representing approximately 11.5 GWe, assuming customers exercise their contingent rights in full. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2027 earnings per share indicates an increase of 26.87% year over year, while XE trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales of 12.87X versus an industry average of 4.95X and carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Peter Thiel's investment firm Thiel Macro LLC disclosed a $418.67 million equity portfolio across eight companies in the second quarter, bypassing semiconductor manufacturers to allocate capital toward electrical grid operators, nuclear developers, tech infrastructure, and conventional energy. According to its 13F filings, Thiel Macro returned to the disclosed U.S. equity market in Q2 after reporting no 13F holdings for two consecutive quarters, directing approximately $162 million across four major electric utilities: American Electric Power Company Inc., DTE Energy Co., FirstEnergy Corp., and CMS Energy Corp. The firm also established positions in power supplier Vistra Corp. and nuclear developer X-Energy Inc., and secured conventional assets via Argentine shale oil producer Vista Energy S.A.B. de C.V. Amazon.com Inc. is Thiel Macro's largest single position at $117.98 million, representing 28% of total reported assets, a stake tied to energy through data center expansion and long-term power purchase agreements including Vistra's 20-year deal to supply nuclear energy to Amazon Web Services. The firm's $75.9 million investment in Vista Energy, an 18% portfolio allocation, arrives as global crude inventories decreased by 400 million barrels this year, according to Reuters, with Brent crude exceeding $100 per barrel.

Jane Street disclosed two new energy stock positions in its second-quarter filings, buying about 3.86 million shares of X-Energy Inc. worth roughly $70.8 million and about 1.21 million shares of TotalEnergies SE worth roughly $94.1 million. X-Energy is an advanced nuclear company developing small modular reactors, with its first commercial project being developed with Dow in Texas, where four Xe-100 reactors are expected to provide electricity and industrial steam. The US Department of Energy has committed up to about $2.1 billion toward the demonstration program under a cost-sharing arrangement, and X-Energy and Amazon are working toward more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity. Bears note the company is still early-stage, with commercial reactors years from operation and significant regulatory and execution risk. Jane Street is a private New York trading firm and one of the world's largest market makers, with over $1 trillion in managed 13F securities as of the end of June.

As the third quarter of 2026 draws to a close, the nuclear energy industry is seeing tangible progress with retired plants restarting, small modular reactors under construction, and billions flowing into the fuel supply chain. The U.S. Department of Energy aims to add 2.5 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2027 and 5 gigawatts by 2029 through uprates and restarts, with Holtec's Palisades plant in Michigan and Constellation Energy's Crane Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania leading the restart efforts, backed by $1.52 billion and $1 billion federal loans respectively. Ontario Power Generation has begun construction on the first of four GE Vernova Hitachi small modular reactors at Darlington, Canada, with the first 300-megawatt unit expected to cost about $5.5 billion and all four projected at $15 billion. Advanced reactor developers like Oklo, TerraPower, NuScale, and X-energy are moving beyond design stages, with X-energy's potential pipeline including 144 reactors representing about 11.5 gigawatts. AI is accelerating development through initiatives like Project Prometheus, and the DOE has awarded $2.7 billion in orders to expand domestic uranium enrichment, including HALEU production. While the nuclear renaissance is real, commercialization remains key, with established players like Constellation and BWX Technologies offering cash flow, while newer companies like Oklo, NuScale, and X-energy carry higher risk but greater upside.

X-Energy, newly public since April, is leveraging artificial intelligence to accelerate nuclear reactor design through its involvement in Project Prometheus, a $60 million Department of Energy initiative led by Idaho National Laboratory, Nvidia, and Amazon. The company is contributing $10 million and proprietary reactor data to integrate AI across design, licensing, manufacturing, and operations. With a pipeline of 144 reactors totaling about 11.5 gigawatts, including projects with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica, X-Energy aims to overcome historical nuclear construction delays. Its TRISO-X subsidiary is building the TX-1 fuel facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, expected to be the first commercial U.S. plant for TRISO fuel, capable of supplying up to 11 Xe-100 reactors.

X-Energy's flagship Xe-100 advanced small modular reactor is positioned to capture growing demand for reliable power from AI data centers. The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor generates 80 MW of electricity or 200 MW of thermal output, and is designed for deployment in groups of four producing 320 MW. Dow, Amazon and Centrica are expected to underpin the initial fleet, with contingent rights representing a pipeline of approximately 11.5 GW across 144 reactors in the United States and the U.K. X-Energy is developing both the reactor and its TRISO-X HALEU fuel, with its TX-1 facility in Oak Ridge, TN designed to support the first 11 reactors and a planned TX-2 facility potentially supporting up to 44 reactors annually. The company expects a 95% capacity factor, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2027 earnings per share indicates a 31.91% year-over-year increase, though XE currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales of 11.72X versus the industry average of 4.85X.

Peter Thiel's Thiel Macro LLC disclosed a $418.7 million portfolio across eight positions as of June 30, 2026, with seven of the eight bets focused on the physical energy bottleneck constraining AI buildout. The largest disclosed positions are Amazon at $118.0 million, Vista Energy at $75.9 million, Vistra at $59.1 million, American Electric Power at $42.2 million, DTE Energy at $40.3 million, FirstEnergy at $39.9 million, CMS Energy at $39.6 million, and X-Energy at $3.7 million. The filing reflects long US equity positions only and excludes shorts, derivatives, private stakes, and non-US listings. The thesis centers on power supply rather than chips, with utilities like American Electric Power disclosing 69 gigawatts of contracted load additions through 2030 and a $78 billion five-year capital plan, while Vistra leverages its nuclear fleet and the pending Cogentrix deal. Amazon's AWS revenue surged 36.7% year-over-year to $42.2 billion in Q2, and its roughly $500 million investment in X-Energy positions it as both a creator and solver of the AI power bottleneck.

X-Energy announced that the Department of Energy will provide up to an additional $1 billion for its ARDP cooperative agreement, potentially raising DOE’s cost share to $2.115 billion. CEO Clay Sell said the company has secured 7.6 metric tons of HALEU from the DOE and executed long-term enrichment agreements with Centrus Energy Corp. and General Matter. X-Energy will invest up to $8 million in milestone-based payments with SGL Carbon to double medium-grain graphite capacity by 2030. CFO Daniel Gross reported Q2 2026 total revenues and grant income of $54.6 million, with $1.9 billion in cash and investments and zero debt outstanding. The company expects NRC construction permit issuance by the first quarter of 2027 and is finalizing an agreement with a major investor-owned utility for its next 1 gigawatt project.

TRISO-X has acquired approximately 70 acres of land adjacent to its commercial nuclear fuel campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, bringing the total site footprint to over approximately 180 acres. The purchase, announced at a meeting of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, increases the company's footprint at the Horizon Center Industrial Park from 125 acres and provides additional space for utility corridors, equipment staging, fuel storage, and long-term expansion capacity. The expansion supports ongoing construction of the TX-1 fuel fabrication facility and follows a July 2026 award from Governor Bill Lee's Nuclear Energy Fund to help develop a planned second commercial fuel facility and a dedicated research and development center. TRISO-X is a wholly-owned subsidiary of X-Energy, Inc.

Constellation Energy shares jumped almost 5% on Wednesday as part of a broader rally in nuclear stocks. The U.S. government signed a 30-year nuclear cooperation deal with Saudi Arabia, and Bloomberg reported a new $200 million program to support domestic power plant construction aimed at meeting AI data center energy needs. While Constellation operates America's largest fleet of full-scale nuclear plants and was not named as a direct participant in either effort, investors see the company benefiting from the administration's strong push to expand nuclear power generation.

X-energy has joined the Prometheus project, a first-of-a-kind research initiative led by Idaho National Laboratory, NVIDIA, and AWS, as a Tier 1 partner to accelerate advanced nuclear deployment using artificial intelligence. The three-year project was awarded $60 million under the U.S. Department of Energy's Genesis Mission and aligns 32 leading laboratories, universities, and private technology developers. X-energy is providing $10 million in private capital and the use of its proprietary Xe-100 small modular reactor and TRISO-X fuel designs as a technical platform for the research campaign. The company expects to leverage advancements from the project to help accelerate commercial deployment across its 11 GW pipeline, which includes projects with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica.

Oklo and X-Energy shares rose after a report said the advanced nuclear developers are participating in a $200 million Trump administration-backed program to speed deployment of nuclear power for AI data centers. Oklo gained about 4% and X-Energy roughly 3% on Wednesday. The initiative is expected to include Microsoft and Nvidia, aiming to streamline design, licensing, and construction of advanced reactors while lowering costs. The program reflects growing electricity demand from AI infrastructure and broader U.S. government and tech industry efforts to expand generation, with nuclear energy seen as a potential long-term power source for data centers.

Super Micro Computer shares surged about 17% in premarket trading after the server maker reported preliminary fourth-quarter results with much stronger profitability than expected, offsetting revenue near the low end of guidance. The positive sentiment spilled over to server peers Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, both up more than 4%. Pegasystems tumbled more than 14% after second-quarter adjusted earnings of 35 cents per share missed the 43-cent FactSet consensus. Nuclear reactor suppliers Oklo and X-Energy rose after a Bloomberg report that they are joining a Trump administration effort to speed nuclear power plant development for AI data centers, with X-Energy up 4% and Oklo higher by more than 3.5%. Rocket Lab gained 4% after winning a $266 million U.S. Air Force contract for 12 suborbital vehicle launches expected by the end of 2028. Cal-Maine Foods dropped more than 4.5% after reporting a surprise fiscal fourth-quarter loss of 76 cents per share versus expectations for an 8-cent profit, citing historically low inflation-adjusted egg prices. GE Vernova declined more than 7% despite beating second-quarter revenue and raising full-year guidance, with CEO Scott Strazik highlighting a $176 billion backlog. AT&T rose 3% after adjusted earnings of 65 cents per share topped the 59-cent consensus, while Philip Morris International slipped 0.5% on a weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings forecast of $2.20 to $2.25 per share, below the $2.42 estimate. CME Group added 1% after reporting second-quarter earnings and revenue above expectations and noting its best first half of a year ever.

TRISO-X has been awarded an $11 million economic development grant from the State of Tennessee to support the continued development of its fuel fabrication campus in Oak Ridge. The funding comes from the state’s Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund and will help advance a potential second commercial fuel facility, TX-2, and a dedicated research and development center, TX-L, alongside the TX-1 facility already under construction. Together, the three facilities are designed to establish one of the world’s largest commercial-scale nuclear fuel fabrication campuses, with capacity to produce enough TRISO-X fuel for approximately 55 of X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular reactors, representing nearly 4.5 gigawatts of new advanced nuclear power capacity. TX-2 alone is expected to create more than 1,000 permanent jobs. The expansion builds on TRISO-X’s recent 40-year license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and nearly a decade of fuel development, positioning the United States to reclaim leadership in advanced nuclear fuel production.

X-Energy is adopting a capital-light business model focused on technology licensing, fuel manufacturing, and engineering services rather than owning or building nuclear plants. The company plans to license its Generation IV Xe-100 small modular reactor technology, manufacture and sell proprietary TRISO-X fuel, and provide engineering and lifecycle support, avoiding construction and project financing risks. Its TRISO fuel creates recurring revenue from ongoing reloads over each reactor's 60-year life, and the TRISO-X facility recently received the first U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Category II license for commercial advanced fuel production. X-Energy has signed an agreement with IHI for U.S.-Japan supply-chain development, announced a letter of intent with Talen Energy for deployments in the PJM market, and is collaborating with PPL Corporation subsidiaries, with its commercial pipeline representing nearly 11.5 gigawatts of potential capacity.

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest aggressively repositioned its portfolios ahead of the second-quarter earnings season, making its largest purchase of the week a roughly $52.1 million addition to SpaceX across four of its ETFs. The firm also invested about $25.8 million in Eli Lilly, $20.7 million in Meta Platforms, $15.4 million in X-Energy, $14.3 million in Coinbase Global, and $13.8 million in Circle Internet Group, underscoring conviction in AI infrastructure, digital assets, and next-generation healthcare. On the selling side, ARK trimmed approximately $33.8 million of Advanced Micro Devices, $22.3 million of Roku, $18.1 million of Natera, $17.8 million of Illumina, and $15 million of Twist Bioscience, among other reductions, signaling selective profit-taking and continued portfolio rebalancing.

PPL Corporation benefits from a diversified energy portfolio that reduces fossil fuel dependence and generates stable cash flows through regulated utility operations. Its Kentucky operations include a balanced mix of coal, natural gas, hydro and solar generation, while its regulated utilities in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island provide reliable electricity and natural gas delivery services. The company is also evaluating advanced nuclear technology with X-energy and a 266-megawatt pumped-storage hydro project with Rye Development to support future demand for reliable, carbon-free electricity. PPL's planned $23 billion investment through 2029 will modernize infrastructure, expand clean energy generation, support 10.3% annual rate base growth and drive upper-end 6-8% EPS growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year increase of 7.73% and 8.13%, respectively.

TD Cowen named X-Energy a best smid-cap idea for 2026 on June 23, keeping a Buy rating with a $35 price target. The firm said the stock's pullback after the Q1 report looked overdone and that the Amazon power agreement submittal shift should not affect the project timeline. X-energy reported Q1 revenue of $43.4 million on June 4, missing the $67.87 million consensus. The company also submitted an application to enter the United Kingdom's Generic Design Assessment process for its Xe-100 reactor, marking a milestone in efforts with Centrica to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of new nuclear in the UK.

PPL Corporation is advancing its clean energy strategy through partnerships focused on carbon-free generation and energy storage. Its regulated utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, are collaborating with X-energy to evaluate deploying Xe-100 small modular reactors in Kentucky, and with Rye Development to explore the 266 megawatt Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage Project, which could begin operating around 2031. These initiatives aim to support rising electricity demand, strengthen grid reliability, and create long-term growth opportunities while advancing decarbonization objectives. PPL's debt-to-capital ratio stands at 57.40%, below the electric power industry's 60.97%, and its shares have risen 3.3% in the past month versus the industry's 2.2% growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate projects year-over-year earnings per share increases of 7.73% for 2026 and 8.13% for 2027.

Zacks Investment Research features Nano Nuclear Energy and X-Energy as two cheap next-generation nuclear stocks trading under $25 a share, with average Zacks price targets implying roughly 90% upside. Nano Nuclear Energy is developing advanced micro reactors and recently had its construction permit application for the KRONOS MMR accepted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while also acquiring Secured Transportation Services to build a domestic HALEU fuel-fabrication and transport pipeline. X-Energy, backed by Amazon and Ken Griffin, went public in April and has a project pipeline of 144 reactors across the U.S. and U.K. for approximately 11.5 gigawatts electric, with Amazon aiming to bring more than 5 GWs online by 2039. Both companies are pre-revenue and expected to post near-term losses, but Zacks notes strong balance sheets and bullish brokerage recommendations, with five of seven analysts rating Nano a Strong Buy.

Construction has begun on the Western world's first grid-scale Small Modular Reactor at Ontario's Darlington New Nuclear Project site, where a 953-tonne base mat was lowered into a 35-meter shaft for the first of four planned BWRX-300 units designed by GE Vernova. Each of the four units will have a capacity of 300 megawatts, enough to power 300,000 homes, and the overall project is supported by Ontario government backing for a CAD$20.9 billion initiative after Ontario Power Generation received a Licence to Construct in April 2025 from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The first reactor is budgeted at CAD$7.7 billion, comprising $6.1 billion for the unit itself and $1.6 billion for shared infrastructure such as roads, tunnels, and cooling-water lines, with an in-service target date of 2030. When completed, it will be the first commercial grid-scale SMR in the West and the first such project a G7 country has built and wired to a major grid, while Russia and China already operate SMRs and Argentina has a pilot under construction. Interest in SMRs is growing across Canada, with SaskPower expressing interest in BWRX-300s, New Brunswick advancing Generation IV Plus designs with ARC Clean Technology and Moltex Energy, and Alberta exploring repurposing thermal sites with X-energy reactors, while globally, tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are investing in SMRs for data centers, and countries including the US, UK, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands are pursuing their own SMR programs.

Jim Cramer expressed positive sentiment on X-Energy, Inc. during Mad Money, calling it a speculative operation but saying he will bless it and that investors can buy some. Cramer noted the company designs small modular nuclear reactors and plans to license its technology, with a business model that won't really start kicking in until 2032. He highlighted that X-Energy has pulled back from $31 to $19, now trading four dollars below its IPO price, but said not much has changed with the story. Cramer reiterated that it should only be bought with money one can afford to lose.