Can NuScale Power Survive a Market Selloff? Here's Why I'm Concerned.

Key Points

NuScale Power is still a long way from turning profitable.

Insolvency risk would rise sharply during a market selloff.

• 10 stocks we like better than NuScale Power ›

NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) stock has had a tough start to the year. Since 2026 began, shares have lost nearly 30% of their value. And that's after a 15% single-day gain on April 15.

The recent sell-off has forced me to dig deeper into the company's near-term financial prospects. I wasn't excited about my conclusions. To be clear, I'm still a big fan of NuScale Power's business model over the long term. But there are two reasons to expect the company to struggle during a marketwide sell-off.

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1. Here's how much money NuScale Power is losing

NuScale Power, a nuclear company focused on developing small modular reactors, or SMRs, is operating in what could become a $10 trillion opportunity. "[N]uclear energy has, in many ways, been recently 'rediscovered' amid surging electricity demand," concludes a recent report from Bank of America. "Compared with other energy sources, it offers reliable baseload power, a smaller carbon footprint, and a higher energy return on investment."

NuScale Power's specific approach -- developing SMRs, which are a type of advanced nuclear fission recator -- won't represent all of this $10 trillion opportunity. But Bank of America thinks the technology is a promising fit for many unique applications.

SMRs, it notes, "produce less energy," at 300 megawatts electrical, and are "much more compact." The report continues: "These reactors only require only 35 acres of land, with 50 acres for safety planning. This smaller footprint opens new siting possibilities: SMRs can be built on retired coal plant sites, alongside existing nuclear plants, or even with other industrially zoned developments -- like data centers."

Here's the issue: SMR technology hasn't scaled to any meaningful degree anywhere in the world. In the coming years, many SMR competitors hope to get their first facilities online. But full production scaling and mass adoption could still be decades away. In the meantime, SMR companies continue to lose money. Last year, NuScale power posted a net loss of more than $660 million. That marked the fourth consecutive year of mounting losses.

2. When will NuScale Power turn profitable?

Mounting losses are a concern for several reasons. But they become more concerning when you consider that NuScale Power's first facility may not be online until 2030 at the earliest. In the meantime, then, NuScale Power will probably be forced to sell more stock, issue more debt, or rely on strategic partnerships or government subsidies to cover its outbound cash flows.

Already, NuScale Power's ability to raise fresh capital has grown more difficult because of the recent sell-off of NuScale Power shares. With a market cap down to just $4 billion, versus an $8 billion value just months ago, lenders will probably demand different terms on potential loans, whereas any potential shareholder dilution will come at a lower stock price -- a worse result for existing shareholders. Already, NuScale Power's number of total shares outstanding has grown by 341% over the past three years.

Analysts don't expect NuScale Power to turn profitable over the next two fiscal years. Profitability may not even arrive this decade. That makes the company reliant on outside sources of capital to survive. And depending on the degree of severity, a market downturn could make raising the capital much harder. In some cases, new capital simply may not be available.

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Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.