Wall Street sounds alarm on nuclear stock with 40% downside

Nuclear energy has become one of Wall Street's more closely watched investment themes as artificial intelligence and data centers put new pressure on the U.S. power grid. Due to data centers, AI, and industrial growth, the U.S. Department of Energy expects electricity demand to rise significantly. The federal government has supported that forecast with dollars. In March of 2025, the Energy Department published a request for $900 million to assist the development of American-made Generation III+ small modular reactors. The market opportunity is so much bigger. The Energy Department has predicted the U.S. may need as much as 200 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity by 2050 to fulfill rising energy demand.