Centrus Energy Stock Skyrockets 20% After Subsidiary Wins DoE Award: Retail Enthusiasm Remains Steady

Shares of nuclear fuel-supplier Centrus Energy Corp ($LEU) soared nearly 20% on Friday after the company disclosed that its subsidiary American Centrifuge Operating (ACO) has won an award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).

The DoE award is aimed at expanding domestic commercial production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), which is needed to fuel many next-generation nuclear reactor designs currently under development.

The firm said that ACO will manufacture the centrifuges and supporting equipment exclusively in the United States.  

Centrus’ subsidiary is one of four awardees announced for HALEU production, with a minimum contract value of $2 million and a maximum value for all awardees of $2.7 billion over a ten-year period. “The ultimate dollar amount associated with this award – and the potential scale of the expansion supported -- will depend upon task orders subsequently issued by the U.S. Department of Energy to Centrus,” the firm said in a statement.  

CEO Amir Vexler said the award could facilitate the potential expansion of Centrus' first-of-a-kind HALEU production capacity to help meet the needs of the advanced nuclear industry and the nation.

In a separate development, ACO became one of the awardees selected by the DoE to de-convert HALEU from uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to uranium oxide and/or uranium metal forms — an important step in the nuclear fuel production process.

Following the announcement, LEU stock ranked among the top 10 trending tickers on Stocktwits. Retail sentiment inched up further into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (95/100), supported by ‘extremely high’ message volumes.

Majority of the Stocktwits users appear to be holding a bullish outlook on the stock.

One user highlighted that the stock is a good buy-and-hold candidate.

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