Is Nuclear Startup Oklo Losing (Market) Power?

Nuclear energy firm Oklo may be teetering on something of a meltdown — no, not that kind. Shares of the Sam Altman-backed company shed more than 20% of their value through the back half of last week as insiders engaged in a sizable stock selloff. Goldman Sachs analysts are now telling clients to proceed with caution. So what’s happening to one of the year’s hottest stocks?

Cherno-bull or Cherno-bear?

Before last week, Oklo’s stock had soared more than 550% since the start of the year, reflecting industry-wide hype as Big Tech, backed by a friendly administration, sought to revive nuclear energy to power its massive AI data center ambitions. But, as with much of the AI hype, the excitement surrounding Oklo may have been a case of putting the radioactive cart before the horse.

The firm remains pre-revenue and has yet to finalize a power purchase agreement. Any commercial operations are still at least a couple of years away. It’s why more than a few players saw last week as a time to tap the brakes:

• On Wednesday, Goldman initiated coverage of Oklo stock with a neutral rating, saying the company’s bloated valuation and the “heavy capital burden” of actually operating nuclear plants could lead to an 11% share price decline in the next year.
• Meanwhile, according to Verity data seen by CNBC, myriad insiders have used the opportunity created by the peaking stock to cash out some holdings: CFO Craig Bealmear sold $9.4 million of stock in the week ending September 19, followed by company director Michael Klein selling $6.7 million worth of shares and CEO Jacob DeWitte unloading $3 million in the form of a gift last week.

Lighting Up: In the meantime, the massive boom in data centers continues to drive up energy costs. In a report last month, the US Energy Information Administration found that the nationwide average retail residential price for 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity rose 6.5% from May 2024 to May 2025. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, some of the country’s biggest spikes can be attributed to rising data center activity.