Oklo Stock Is Having Its Worst Week Since May 2024. What’s Burdening the Nuclear Start-Up.

Oklo stock has surged more than 400% this year. ((COURTESY OKLO, INC.))

Key Points

• Oklo stock plummeted 16% on Wednesday, contributing to a nearly 32% decline since its recent intraday high of $193.84.
• The stock’s volatility is influenced by sentiment, lack of revenue, and Cathie Wood’s ARK fund shedding 53,353 shares.
• Despite recent declines, Oklo’s shares are still up 446% this year, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 index’s 13.5% gain.

Oklo stock was falling through the floor on Wednesday. Shares were on pace for their worst week since May of last year, leading investors to question whether the hype around the hottest name in nuclear energy has finally run out.

The company makes advanced nuclear reactors that produce more fuel than they use, making them more efficient. Oklo’s proposed design is also able to run on recycled nuclear waste.

Just one week ago, the stock had hit a record intraday high of $193.84 after the U.S. Army announced an initiative to deploy small reactors. But Oklo shares abruptly reversed those gains, and have fallen nearly 32% since then.

On Wednesday, the stock plummeted 16% to $117.44 while the broader market declined less than 1%. What gives?

As is typical with names like Oklo, which have limited financial history and aren’t yet profitable (think: quantum computing pure-plays), stock movements largely are driven by sentiment and chatter on Wall Street.

Recent headlines about Oklo’s lofty stock price in the face of no revenue and no binding agreements to supply power have caused the stock to tumble this week—coupled with the fact that it’s coming off an all-time high.

Another event could also be contributing to the losses. On Monday, Cathie Wood’s ARK Autonomous Tech exchange-traded fund shed 53,353 shares of Oklo common stock for around $8.5 million, bringing the company back into the spotlight.

The company has been gaining attention since it went public in May 2024 after merging with a special purpose acquisition company headed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. From the start, Oklo was associated with big names. Former board member Chris Wright was named U.S. Energy Secretary earlier this year, and Oklo has found itself in a sweet spot to benefit from enthusiasm at the federal level.

This friendly regulatory environment has been one of the biggest boons to Oklo stock, coupled with the appetite for new energy sources to power the data centers that train and operate artificial intelligence.

“What matters is long-term execution against a very real need for firm, clean power and the scale of the opportunity in front of us,” Bonita Chester, Oklo’s head of communications and media, told Barron’s.

Earlier this year, Oklo was named as one of several participants in the Energy Department’s Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to have at least three test reactors up and running at national laboratories by July 2026—ahead of the start-up’s own deployment targets of late 2027 or 2028.

As Oklo enters its second year as a publicly traded company, investors seem to be looking at the bigger picture. Save for sporadic announcements, there isn’t much material information for the stock to trade on.

The start-up’s advanced fast reactors are pending approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the process has been slower than Wall Street would like. At the end of September, Oklo announced that the NRC had accepted its principal design criteria topical report for review under an accelerated timeline.

Earlier that month, the company held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first Aurora nuclear powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory. It has since started the construction process.

None of this is news for investors following the stock, and it’s worth noting Oklo wasn’t the only nuclear stock falling Wednesday. NuScale Power , another developer of small modular reactors, was down nearly as much, sliding 15% to $32.82. Both stocks have outpaced the broader market this year.

Like Oklo, NuScale remains unprofitable and has yet to deploy any nuclear reactors. Maybe the enthusiasm for both stocks has run its course, but it’s far more likely the slump is temporary. Oklo needs one significant announcement to drive the price back to its highs.

While shares may have fallen on tough times as of late, they’re still up 446% this year. The benchmark S&P 500 index, by comparison, has gained around 13.5%.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com