Centrus Energy has gotten torched over the last six months - since October 2025, its stock price has dropped 51.7% to $200.74 per share. This was partly due to its softer quarterly results and may have investors wondering how to approach the situation.
Is now the time to buy Centrus Energy, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Check out our in-depth research report to see what our analysts have to say, it’s free.
Why Do We Think Centrus Energy Will Underperform?
Even though the stock has become cheaper, we're swiping left on Centrus Energy for now. Here are three reasons there are better opportunities than LEU and a stock we'd rather own.
1. Fewer Distribution Channels Limit its Ceiling
In Energy, scale separates fragile single-asset producers from platform-style businesses that generate revenue across entire basins and infrastructure networks.
Centrus Energy’s $448.7 million of revenue in the last year is pretty small for the industry, suggesting the company hasn’t hit a level of diversification where investors can sleep easy at night.
2. Low Gross Margin Reveals Weak Structural Profitability
In a single quarter or year, gross margins in the sector can swing wildly due to commodity prices, hedging, or changes in labor costs. Over a multi-year period across different points in the cycle, gross margin differences can signal whether a company is a structurally-advantaged producer (“rock” quality, takeaway, operating costs) or not.
Centrus Energy, which averaged 31.8% gross margin over the last five years, exhibiting bottom-tier unit economics in the sector. It means the company will struggle at higher commodity prices than peers with better gross margins. 
3. Shrinking EBITDA Margin
Adjusted EBITDA margin captures the true operating profitability of an energy producer by removing accounting noise around depletion and capitalized drilling costs. It reveals how much cash the asset base generates before capital structure and reinvestment requirements shape reported earnings.
Looking at the trend in its profitability, Centrus Energy’s EBITDA margin decreased by 33.2 percentage points over the last year. Centrus Energy’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers. Its EBITDA margin for the trailing 12 months was 16.3%.
Final Judgment
We cheer for all companies serving everyday consumers, but in the case of Centrus Energy, we’ll be cheering from the sidelines. Following the recent decline, the stock trades at 53.9× forward P/E (or $200.74 per share). This multiple tells us a lot of good news is priced in - we think there are better opportunities elsewhere. We’d suggest looking at the most dominant software business in the world.
Stocks We Would Buy Instead of Centrus Energy
ONE MORE THING: Top 6 Stocks for This Week. This market is separating quality stocks from expensive ones fast. AI taking down whole sectors with no warning. In a rotation this fast, you need more than a list of good companies.
Our AI system flagged Palantir before it ran 1,662%. AppLovin before it ran 753%. Nvidia before it ran 1,178%. Each week it produces 6 new names that pass the same tests. Get Our Top 6 Stocks for Free HERE.
Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
