Nuclear Stocks Are Hot. This One Just Got a Big Target-Price Increase.

Coming into Wednesday trading, BWX Technologies’ stock was up 85%. (Courtesy BWXT)

Nuclear power is all the rage recently, which is changing Wall Street and investor sentiment regarding a provider of nuclear technology to the government.

BWX Technologies makes and services nuclear components for the U.S. government and private industry, while also providing materials processing and environmental services. Its shares got a big target-price increase on Wednesday, continuing a trend from various analysts over the past year.

Nuclear wasn’t always viewed so favorably. The business was moribund for more than a decade following the 2011 accident in Fukushima, Japan. Things started to change after Amazon.com signed a deal in 2024 with Talen Energy . Amazon wanted to power its artificial-intelligence data centers in a way that didn’t generate carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for climate change.

Many nuclear stocks have enjoyed strong returns since then. Coming into Wednesday trading, Talen Energy stock was up almost 200% over the past 12 months. Shares of uranium supplier Cameco were up about 100%.

BWX Technologies’ stock was up 85%. Shares traded as high as $184.98 on Wednesday, before falling back down 1.5%, closing at $176.76. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% and 1%, respectively.

BofA Securities analyst Ronald Epstein provided the initial pop on Wednesday. He took his price target up 42% to $220 a share from $155 a share; he rates BWX stock Buy.

The company is “benefiting from supercritical demand,” he wrote. Naval nuclear reactors are in high demand, and the company is well placed to benefit from the development of small modular reactors, or SMRs. An SMR is what it sounds like: a smaller nuclear power plant that can be assembled in a factory and deployed more cheaply than traditional nuclear technology.

The U.S. government is also thinking about using nuclear technology in space. In early August, NASA floated the idea of putting a nuclear reactor on the moon. “We see BWX Technologies uniquely positioned to support deployment of military and space nuclear power,” added BofA’s Epstein.

Shares gave back early gains. The performance of Centrus Energy may have weighed on shares. It’s a nuclear play, too, offering fuel supply and services. Centrus shares dropped 13.9% on Wednesday following a convertible notes offering.

Still, BWX Technologies’ momentum is hard to deny. Overall, 69% of analysts who cover the stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target is about $184 a share, up from about $110 a year ago.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com