LEU vs CCJ Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
LEU and CCJ are both nuclear fuel companies but occupy different links in the same chain. Cameco mines and supplies uranium, so its economics follow uranium prices and production volumes. Centrus enriches uranium, and its most distinctive asset is being the only US-licensed HALEU producer. Cameco is the scaled, diversified way to own the fuel cycle; Centrus is a more concentrated bet on domestic enrichment and advanced reactor fuel.
Use this LEU vs CCJ comparison to decide which part of the nuclear fuel chain you actually want exposure to. A rising uranium price helps Cameco's realised selling prices fairly directly. Centrus is driven more by enrichment contracts and HALEU policy support, so the two can perform quite differently even in the same nuclear bull market.
CCJ holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CCJ has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+3.01% vs -52.89%), though LEU has the better forward P/E setup (38.63x vs 50.78x for CCJ). On fundamentals, LEU is growing revenue faster (14.00%), while CCJ maintains the higher operating margin (9.11%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for LEU (+70.35%) than for CCJ (+35.99%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to nuclear fuel enrichment rather than to uranium mining economics
- Believe advanced reactors will create real HALEU demand this decade
- See US policy support for reshoring fuel supply as a durable tailwind
- Can tolerate lumpy earnings driven by contract timing
- Want scaled, liquid exposure to the uranium price through a tier-one producer
- Value the Westinghouse stake as diversification beyond mining
- Prefer long-term utility contracts to smooth commodity volatility
- Are comfortable holding a commodity business through price cycles
| Metric | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 53.7 | 59.6 |
| AI ranki | #277 | #151 |
| Latest closei | $147.07 | $88.07 |
| 1M returni | -21.62% | -17.97% |
| 6M returni | -19.59% | -15.25% |
| 1Y returni | -52.89% | +3.01% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $4.71K (-52.9%) started 2025-09-25 | $10.32K (+3.2%) started 2025-09-25 |
| 5Y ago | $37.53K (+275.3%) started 2021-09-27 | $43.09K (+330.9%) started 2021-09-27 |
| 10Y ago | $386.01K (+3760.1%) started 2016-09-26 | $118.23K (+1082.3%) started 2016-09-26 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $2.97B | $41.68B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 76.84 | 162.20 |
| Forward P/Ei | 38.63 | 50.78 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 4.66 | 12.10 |
| Analyst targeti | $247.40 | $130.14 |
| Target upsidei | +70.35% | +35.99% |
| Metric | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 14.00% | -7.20% |
| Earnings growthi | -51.60% | -92.10% |
| EPS growthi | -51.60% | -92.10% |
| FCF margini | -26.86% | +1.44% |
| Operating margini | 5.34% | 9.11% |
| Profit margini | 10.23% | 10.21% |
| ROIC proxyi | 8.05% | 5.11% |
| Return on equityi | 8.05% | 5.11% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 0.18% |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 29.63% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | 2 yrs |
| Betai | 1.33 | 0.99 |
| Debt/equityi | 139.28 | 17.13 |
| Current ratioi | 5.39 | 3.06 |
| Quick ratioi | 4.41 | 1.88 |
Over the past year, LEU and CCJ have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.61), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -52.89% | +3.01% |
| CAGRi | -52.92% | +3.02% | |
| Volatilityi | 88.56% | 54.89% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.46 | 0.24 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.63 | 0.38 | |
| Max drawdowni | 68.12% | 36.93% | |
| Current drawdowni | 66.27% | 34.32% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 46.83% | 16.57% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 49.99% | 19.30% | |
| Max daily dropi | 20.69% | 9.28% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.83% | 18.25% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +275.27% | +325.59% |
| CAGRi | +30.32% | +33.65% | |
| Volatilityi | 86.66% | 49.63% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.69 | 0.74 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.05 | 1.13 | |
| Max drawdowni | 78.23% | 40.01% | |
| Current drawdowni | 66.27% | 34.32% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 43.65% | 13.87% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 47.52% | 17.31% | |
| Max daily dropi | 31.42% | 15.16% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 38.69% | 21.23% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +3760.11% | +992.17% |
| CAGRi | +44.12% | +27.02% | |
| Volatilityi | 82.98% | 46.93% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.80 | 0.65 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.24 | 0.98 | |
| Max drawdowni | 83.84% | 57.22% | |
| Current drawdowni | 66.27% | 34.32% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 42.46% | 16.14% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 47.54% | 19.25% | |
| Max daily dropi | 31.42% | 18.24% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 42.56% | 26.82% |
| Category | LEU | CCJ |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Centrus Energy Corp. | Cameco Corporation |
| Sector | Energy | Energy |
| Industry | Uranium | Uranium |
| Core business | Supplier of enriched uranium. Centrus operates the only US facility licensed to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the fuel most advanced reactor designs require, and also resells separative work units sourced from third parties. | One of the world's largest uranium producers, operating tier-one mines including McArthur River and Cigar Lake, plus fuel services and conversion. Also holds a large stake in Westinghouse, giving it exposure to reactor servicing and new build. |
| Investor focus | HALEU capacity expansion and government funding, the transition away from Russian-sourced supply, long-term contract pricing, and enrichment margins. | Uranium spot and long-term contract prices, production volumes and mine restarts, the Westinghouse contribution, and utility contracting cycles. |
- Only US-licensed producer of HALEU, positioning it as the domestic fuel supplier for most advanced reactor designs
- Benefits directly from US policy pressure to reshore nuclear fuel supply away from Russia
- Enrichment is a technically and politically hard business to enter, limiting new competition
- Owns tier-one, high-grade uranium assets in a stable jurisdiction, a genuinely scarce combination
- Westinghouse stake adds reactor servicing and new-build exposure beyond raw uranium prices
- Long-term utility contracts provide more revenue visibility than pure spot-price exposure
- Historically dependent on Russian supply agreements, and the transition to domestic production requires heavy capital
- HALEU demand depends on advanced reactors actually being built, which is not yet proven at scale
- Earnings can swing sharply with contract timing rather than underlying demand
- Ultimately a commodity producer whose earnings track uranium prices it does not control
- Mine operations carry geological, water-inflow, and production-guidance risk
- Utilities can defer contracting, delaying the benefit of higher spot prices
Compare more than two at a time
This page is a fixed writeup on LEU and CCJ. Our comparison engine is the interactive version: load up to five tickers, switch timeframes, and get the correlation, drawdown, and overlap analysis that a static page can't show.
Add three more names beside LEU and CCJ, mixing stocks and ETFs in the same table — useful when the real question is which of a whole peer group to own.
AI score, forward P/E, analyst target upside, operating margin, and revenue growth are scored head-to-head, with a running tally of which ticker leads on how many metrics.
Volatility, Sharpe and Sortino ratios, maximum, current, and average drawdown, Ulcer Index, and worst single-day and single-week drops across every timeframe.
Pairwise daily-return correlation for every combination, so you can see whether two holdings actually diversify each other or just move together.
A scatter plot of forward P/E against return on equity, plus drawdown and 30-day rolling volatility charts, to separate what is cheap from what is merely beaten down.
For ETFs, a top-holdings comparison that exposes hidden overlap between funds. Every comparison exports to CSV for your own spreadsheet work.
Two comparisons a week are free without an account. A 14-day trial removes the limit and adds AI price forecasts, stock rankings, saved watchlists, and the intrinsic value calculator — no credit card required.
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.