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X-Energy Declines 18.9% in a Month: How Should You Play the Stock Now?

X-Energy, Inc.’s XE shares have lost 18.9% over the past month, underperforming its Zacks Alternate Energy – Other industry’s growth of 0.3%. X-Energy is developing small modular reactors (SMRs) as the cornerstone of its long-term growth strategy through its flagship Xe-100 advanced reactor platfor…

X-Energy, Inc.’s XE shares have lost 18.9% over the past month, underperforming its Zacks Alternate Energy – Other industry’s growth of 0.3%. X-Energy is developing small modular reactors (SMRs) as the cornerstone of its long-term growth strategy through its flagship Xe-100 advanced reactor platform. One of X-Energy's biggest competitive advantages is its steady regulatory progress, which lowers execution risk for future projects.

Other alternative energy stocks, such as GE Vernova Inc. GEV and Talen Energy Corporation TLN, have outperformed the industry during the said period. Shares of GE Vernova and Talen Energy have risen 23.4% and 3.6%, respectively. Through its nuclear business, GE Vernova (together with Hitachi in the GE Hitachi joint venture) is developing the BWRX-300, one of the world's leading SMR designs, whereas Talen Energy is positioning itself as a potential customer, host and operator of advanced nuclear technologies.

Amid X-Energy's underperformance, investors might be wondering what their next move should be. Let's examine the factors and assess the stock's investment prospects to make an informed decision.

Factors Acting in Favor of XE

X-Energy continues to expand its commercial opportunity through a growing pipeline of reactor deployments. As of March 31, 2026, the company had a project pipeline of 144 Xe-100 reactors, representing roughly 11.5 gigawatts electric (GWe) of potential capacity across the United States and the United Kingdom. This pipeline is anchored by major customers and partners including Dow, Amazon and Centrica, providing the company with a solid foundation for future reactor sales, fuel supply agreements and long-term service revenues.

X-Energy and Dow are partnering on the Seadrift advanced nuclear project, which aims to deploy X-Energy’s Xe-100 reactors at Dow’s Texas manufacturing site. During the first quarter, the company received the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (“NRC”) Environmental Assessment with a Finding of No Significant Impact for Dow's Seadrift advanced nuclear project, enabling the permitting process to move forward more quickly than under a traditional Environmental Impact Statement. X-Energy also received a Part 70 fuel fabrication license from the NRC, authorizing commercial production of its TRISO-X fuel using HALEU for up to 40 years.

Internationally, the company submitted its Xe-100 reactor for the U.K.'s Generic Design Assessment process, an important step toward commercial deployment with Centrica. These regulatory achievements strengthen customer confidence while creating barriers for competing advanced reactor developers.

X-Energy is actively building the manufacturing and supply-chain infrastructure needed to support commercial deployment. Construction of its first commercial fuel fabrication facility, TX-1 in Tennessee, remains on schedule for completion in the first half of 2028, while fuel irradiation testing continues at Idaho National Laboratory.

The company signed a 10-year graphite supply agreement with SGL Carbon and entered into a memorandum of understanding with IHI Corporation to develop manufacturing capabilities for critical reactor components. These initiatives improve supply security, reduce future execution risks and support large-scale commercialization of the Xe-100 platform.

Headwinds for XE Stock

A key risk for X-energy is that it is yet to commercially deploy its Xe-100 reactor or secure final investment decisions from customers for reactor purchases and deployments. As a result, the company's future revenue growth depends on customers committing to projects and on X-Energy successfully executing its first commercial deployment, which is currently targeted for the early 2030s. Since the Xe-100 is still in the design phase, project cost and timeline estimates are subject to considerable uncertainty, increasing the risk of cost overruns, construction delays or scope changes that could weaken project economics and delay customer commitments.

As a first-of-its-kind advanced nuclear technology, the Xe-100 could encounter technical, operational or manufacturing challenges during its initial deployments. The nuclear industry has historically seen first-of-its-kind projects experience significant delays, budget overruns and even cancellations, and X-energy could face similar execution risks. Any failure to deliver the reactor on time, within budget or at the promised performance levels could damage customer confidence, reduce future orders, strengthen competitors' positions and materially affect the company's financial performance and long-term growth prospects.

XE Stock’s Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2027 earnings per share (EPS) indicates an increase of 20.26% year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GE Vernova’s 2026 EPS indicates an increase of 73.2% year over year. The bottom-line estimate for Talen Energy’s 2026 EPS implies an increase of 262.1% year over year.

XE Stock Trades at a Premium

X-Energy is currently trading at 12.96X, a premium compared to its industry’s 5.32X on a forward 12-month P/S basis.

What Should Investors Do Now?

X-energy is strengthening its long-term growth prospects by expanding its commercial reactor pipeline, advancing key regulatory approvals and progressing international licensing efforts, reinforcing customer confidence in the Xe-100 platform. The company is also enhancing its manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities through fuel production, strategic supplier partnerships and infrastructure investments, positioning it to support future large-scale commercial deployments.

Given its current premium valuation and price performance, new investors may prefer to wait for a better entry point. Those who already have this stock may stay invested, considering its earnings growth. XE currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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