Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO) rose 6% on Tuesday after Bank of America Securities initiated coverage of the small modular reactor (SMR) developer with a Buy rating and a $92 price target.
The bullish call underscores growing Wall Street confidence in the nuclear startup, which is backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as energy demand tied to artificial intelligence accelerates.
BofA’s outlook: high margins and long-term returns
Bank of America analyst Dimple Gosai highlighted Oklo’s “build-own-operate” model as more capital-intensive than peers but ultimately advantageous, as it enables the company to deliver “fully wrapped, bankable PPAs” while retaining full independent power producer economics.
BofA projects Oklo’s first 75 MW projects could achieve about 13% unlevered IRR, with later deployments potentially reaching 26% IRRs through supply chain scale and cost efficiencies.
Longer term, the firm expects Oklo could deliver over 60% EBITDA margins, far exceeding the mid-teen levels typical across the nuclear sector.
The $92 target is based on an 80/20 blend of peer multiples and discounted cash flow methodology.
Still, BofA flagged risks including licensing delays, power purchase agreement timing, HALEU fuel supply challenges, and execution hurdles.
Stock performance and financial standing
Following the upgrade, Oklo stock jumped 6% to $76.90 on Tuesday, extending its strong momentum.
At the time of writing, the shares had lost some gains and were trading at $76.29.
Shares had already gained 4.8% on Friday after rebounding from the 50-day moving average.
Despite a 7% pullback in August, the stock remains up 235% in 2025, with a staggering 924% return over the past year.
The company is currently valued at $10.52 billion.
Oklo reported a Q2 net loss of $28 million (18 cents per share) with no revenue, but ended the quarter with $226.8 million in cash and equivalents, up 133% from year-end 2024.
Its balance sheet shows more cash than debt and a robust current ratio of 71.27x.
Strategic projects and analyst views
Oklo is also progressing on multiple strategic fronts.
It was recently selected for three US Department of Energy reactor pilot projects, including two led by Oklo and one managed by its subsidiary Atomic Alchemy Inc.
These efforts fall under the Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to demonstrate reactor criticality by July 4, 2026.
Additionally, Oklo has established a digital monitoring room in partnership with ABB, designed as an operator training and simulation hub with advanced automation and safety features.
Wall Street sentiment is becoming increasingly diverse.
UBS in the previous week initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $65 target, citing caution over valuation despite optimism on US nuclear infrastructure.
Wedbush reiterated its Outperform rating with an $80 target, pointing to Oklo’s potential in serving AI-driven data centre power needs.
Among the roughly 50 SMR developers tracked by BofA, Oklo has the largest publicly disclosed pipeline at more than 14 gigawatts, representing about 30% of the global total.
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