Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) isn’t exactly the kind of stock you bring up at dinner parties. It’s not flashy. It’s not pumping out AI chips. But it is sitting at the center of one of the most important global shifts happening right now and Wall Street is starting to pay attention.
In fact, shares are already up 15.1% in 2025 through late May. And depending on who you ask, that’s just the warm-up.
So where’s this thing headed by 2030?
Nuclear Is Having a Moment
First, the obvious, nuclear energy is back in vogue. Governments aren’t just talking clean energy goals, they’re rewriting entire energy strategies around nuclear power and Cameco is smack in the middle of that.
In April 2025, the UK committed to tripling its nuclear output by 2050. That’s not a typo. 3x. France, Japan, South Korea, and they’re all extending reactor lifespans, restarting idle units, and greenlighting new builds. Even the U.S. is funding small modular reactors like never before. And these things need uranium.
Who’s one of the world’s largest publicly traded uranium suppliers? Cameco. And the best part is it’s not just a volume story because prices are rising too.
Uranium Prices Just Crossed $100
Spot uranium just topped $100 per pound in March 2025. That’s the highest it’s been since 2007. It’s not hard to see why.
Supply is constrained. Kazatomprom, the world’s largest producer, cut output guidance earlier this year citing construction delays at its new ISR wellfields. And mines in Namibia and Niger are dealing with political and logistical headaches. Meanwhile, demand is, well, it’s doing the opposite.
In Q1 2025 alone, global utilities signed more than 50 million pounds in long-term uranium contracts. That’s the fastest pace since Fukushima, and Cameco was part of those deals. So what does that mean for the business?
Cameco Has Locked in Long-Term Pricing Power
Back in February 2025, management announced 77 million pounds in new long-term uranium contracts over the previous 12 months. And they made it clear that they won’t sacrifice price for volume.
On the call, the leadership team made it abundantly clear stating “We’re not interested in selling uranium at uneconomic prices. These contracts reflect the current market realities and protect our margins over the long run.”
What does that all boil down to? Cameco isn’t just selling more uranium but are doing it on their terms.
That’s a big shift from the last cycle, when uranium producers were desperate to lock in any deal they could. This time, Cameco’s in the driver’s seat.
Production Is Coming Back Online
Cameco’s flagship McArthur River mine is now fully operational after a long hiatus, and management plans to produce up to 18 million pounds this year, which is 2x what it produced just a couple of years ago.
But they’re still holding back capacity. The mine can churn out up to 25 million pounds annually, but CCJ isn’t rushing and management says they’ll only ramp if the market stays strong and contracts justify it.
It’s what separates Cameco from the boom-and-bust miners who torched investor capital during the last uranium rush. So what’s the interpretation if you’re a shareholder or looking to scoop up a new position?
Analysts See What’s Coming
In Q2 Bank of America’s research team hiked its price target on Cameco to $70 per share. They went further and called it “the single best way to gain uranium exposure in public markets. Given CCJ was at just $37 when Q2 began that’s quite the rally potential.
RBC chimed in too, noting that Cameco’s long-term contracts, disciplined supply strategy, and partnership with Brookfield on the Westinghouse acquisition make it a “strategic linchpin” in the nuclear renaissance.
The Westinghouse Bet Is ROI’ing
Back in 2023, Cameco teamed up with Brookfield Renewable to buy Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear services heavyweight. It raised eyebrows at the time. A uranium miner buying a reactor servicing business? But now the pieces are starting to gel.
In 2025, Westinghouse inked service deals in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Bulgaria, all part of Eastern Europe’s push to get off Russian fuel and technology. And in March, Cameco confirmed that those contracts would translate into “multi-year revenue synergies.”
The company now touches multiple parts of the nuclear fuel cycle, from mining to conversion to reactor servicing. That’s a moat. And it’s getting wider.
Institutional Investors Are Loading Up
Another signal, the smart money is showing up. In Q1 2025, BlackRock added 1.8 million shares of Cameco, making it the firm’s largest uranium holding. Fidelity, Vanguard, and State Street all increased their stakes too. You rarely get that kind of buying without some serious conviction.
Also, Cameco joined the TSX 60 index in March 2025. That’s going to force even more institutional flows from index funds and ETFs.
Valuation Still Isn’t Stretched
You might be thinking, “Wait, isn’t all this priced in already?” Perhaps it is because Cameco trades at 143x trailing earnings. Still, analysts projecting EPS growth of more than 25% annually over the next five years. For a company locking in multiyear pricing on a critical resource in short supply that may not be as expensive as it seems at first glance.
By 2030, Cameco will be generating meaningfully higher cash flow, with longer-term supply contracts insulating it from short-term commodity whiplash. If uranium prices hold or climb, that multiple won’t stay put.
A re-rating to a 25x multiple, in line with premium energy peers, gets you a stock price above $80 per share. That’s more than 50% upside from where it trades in May 2025.
And don’t forget, that doesn’t even bake in additional upside from the Westinghouse segment, which analysts still treat as a rounding error in most sum-of-the-parts models.
So, Where Will Cameco Be in 5 Years?
Cameco, in spite of the bullish tailwinds, has an 18.2% downside risk to $49.40 per share according to the consensus estimate of analysts when using a 5-year discounted cash flow forecast.
However, today’s buyers aren’t just betting on a commodity pop but are entering an ecosystem play that’s been de-risked by contracts, supercharged by demand, and backed by institutional muscle. So, unless something dramatic changes, it’s going to be worth a lot more in five years.
By then, it’ll be supplying uranium to a growing fleet of global reactors. It’ll likely have expanded its capacity selectively, keeping margins intact. And with Westinghouse fully integrated, it’ll be vertically stitched into the nuclear ecosystem.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.