prepared by Icaro Gouveia de Meira Lins, Tung Nguyen, Esau Benites, Aidan McCarthy, Erik Lin, Avigya Paudel, and Viet Minh Hieu Nguyen

Company Description 

Cameco Corp (CCJ) is a Canadian large-cap uranium mining company headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada with a valuation of $30.33 billion as of June 19th, 2025. It was established in 1998 with the mission of “Providing nuclear fuel products and services across the fuel cycle to support the generation of clean, reliable, secure and affordable energy”. 

Cameco has expanded greatly since its inception, and it is the largest publicly traded uranium company in the world with mining operations in Canada, United States and Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the company sells the commodity to several nuclear power plants located in Europe, Asia and also the United States. The company is focused on extracting uranium ore (U3O8) as well as providing uranium services such as refining and conversion. Its acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Company in 2022 made Cameco more vertically integrated giving it the capability to provide services to power plants. The company is well positioned to capitalize on rising uranium prices, while maintaining a lean operation, disciplined capital expenditure, and a deleveraged balance sheet. Lastly, judging (perhaps naively) from its 100 plus page Sustainability Report, Cameco is committed to sustainability, safety, and community engagement. 

Valuation

Cameco (CCJ) currently trades at a notably high EV/EBITDA of approximately 50.06x, reflecting its strong market valuation as well above the uranium industry median of around 7.71x. In contrast, Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium producer, is valued at roughly 4.12x EV/EBITDA, which shows its state-owned structure of low-cost and high volume. Smaller companies like Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) and NexGen (NXE) lack positive EBITDA, making EV/EBITDA inapplicable. This gap underscores Cameco’s premium valuation, justified by its combined operations, from mining to fuel services versus Kazatomprom’s pure production and smaller companies’ development-stage profile. Despite Cameco’s higher valuation multiples, its strong EBITDA growth (TTM was CAD$ 867.61M, up 9.9% year-over-year), low debt, and $2B+ cash reserves support its premium valuation.

Company	EV/EBITDA	Characteristics	Comparison
Cameco (CCJ)	50.06x	Diversified (mining to fuel services); TTM EBITDA: CAD$ 867.61M (+9.9% YoY); low debt; >$2B cash reserves	Highest valuation multiple; reflects market confidence in diversified model and strong financials
Kazatomprom	4.12x	State-owned; low-cost, high-volume producer	Lower valuation due to pure production focus and state structure
Industry Median	7.71x	n/a	Cameco trades significantly above industry median
Uranium Energy Corp (UEC)	n/a	Development-stage; no positive EBITDA	EV/EBITDA not applicable due to lack of earnings
NexGen (NXE)	n/a	Development-stage; no positive EBITDA	EV/EBITDA not applicable due to lack of earnings

While not shown above, Cameco currently trades at a P/E ratio of approximately 93.7x, which is significantly above the industry average and suggests a premium driven by uranium market dynamics and Cameco’s unique positioning. Additionally, Cameco trades at a Price-to-Book (P/B) ratio of roughly 4.9x, compared to an industry average closer to 2.0x, further emphasizing investor willingness to pay a premium for its assets and strategic initiatives.

Financials

During the most recent quarterly result for Q1 2025, Cameco had a strong operational performance, delivering CAD$ 789.43M in revenue (+24.61% YoY). Nevertheless, Cameco has remained efficient in terms of SG&A costs and has expanded R&D expenditures due to its stake in Westinghouse. Lastly, it becomes evident that Cameco’s management team led by the CEO Tim Gitzel, are also keen to expand shareholder value and maintain disciplined decision-making processes, such as reducing Debt/EBITDA ratio to 1.16, down from 3.55 in 2023 and 10.34 in 2021. 

Westinghouse Electric Company Acquisition 

Founded in 1886, Westinghouse Electric Company is a leading global provider of nuclear power plant technology and nuclear fuel. Westinghouse plays a pivotal role in the development of commercial nuclear energy, as the company designs and services pressurized water reactors and supplies fuel to nuclear power plants worldwide. In 2022, Westinghouse Electric Company was purchased by Cameco. This acquisition strengthened both parties’ positions in the nuclear energy market and now supports the growing global demand for clean, carbon-free energy. Cameco gained exposure to downstream markets, while Westinghouse benefitted from a stable supply of uranium and expanded operational backing. Westinghouse has a total equity of $2.1 billion, representing roughly 8% of Cameco’s market capitalization, and has a projected EBITDA of $510 million for 2025. 

US Policy on Nuclear Energy

While the current administration’s stance on renewable energy is unfavorable, prioritizing fossil fuels, Trump has a more favorable view of nuclear energy compared to other clean energy sources such as solar and wind. This is due to its military applications and importance as an energy source AI data centers, which is seen as a matter of national importance for the administration. This can be seen in recent decisions made by the administration, which seeks to expand America’s nuclear capacities.  As such, while other clean energy sources may experience a decline in the next 4 years, we believe that nuclear energy will experience rapid growth, and which will benefit Cameco. Furthermore, unlike other energy sources, nuclear remains a bipartisan issue, as both parties support nuclear energy, albeit for different reasons. 

Investment Thesis 

The Emerging and International Markets Sector conducted a top-down approach when researching potential investment this spring term. Firstly, we carefully analyzed the energy sector outlook heading into 2030 and assessed global geopolitics amid the recent trade conflicts between the US and other countries. As a result, our team developed a strong interest in gaining exposure to the uranium industry, primarily driven by favorable long-term industry outlooks. Then, after analyzing the financials, track record, management execution, and market shares of uranium mining companies in Australia, Kazakhstan, US and Europe, we found Cameco to be a great play for the potential uranium boom. 

Despite the extremely rich valuation, we believe that the market currently undervalues Cameco for three primary reasons:

• First, we believe that the market underestimates the future demand for uranium. According to the World Nuclear Association, demand for uranium is expected to increase by 28% until 2030. Additionally, COP28’s major joint declaration during the climate change conference where more than 20 countries — including the US, Japan and France — promised to triple their nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Since COP29’s event in 2024, the number has risen to 31 nations. Several studies also support the claim that G20 countries can only achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 through substantial investment in nuclear infrastructure, due to increased demand for energy from AI data centers and other factors. Hence, this macroeconomic environment might result in great tailwinds for Cameco in the foreseeable future.
• Second, we believe that the market underestimates the barriers to entry into the uranium market. Cameco’s physical assets across the globe, including its high-quality uranium from Cigar Lake and McArthur River mines, place it in a unique position. 
• Third, we believe that the market underestimates the value of the vertical integrated business model that resulted from the Westinghouse acquisition.

Currently our exposure to the energy industry remains minimal, as the closest stock we have to the energy sector is Brookfield Infrastructure Partners: A firm which manages and operates critical global infrastructure networks which facilitate the movement and storage of energy, water, freight, passengers and data. This firm only makes up less than 1% of our total portfolio. As such, by buying Cameco, we are able to have much needed exposure to the clean energy sector.

Risks to CCJ 

Our main concern is related to the supply and price of uranium. While there is an expected rise in demand in uranium within the foreseeable future due to increased investment and demand in nuclear energy, this is not guaranteed. Historically, Cameco, and other uranium mining companies have suffered with uranium prices being too low to be able to turn a profit, as other sources of energy, primarily oil and gas, have shown to be cheaper and more profitable. As such, Cameco may still struggle in the early stages of the energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, as oil and gas remain more cost efficient in the short-run due to high upfront costs of powerplants.

Another problem is that nuclear energy, and by extension uranium, is a highly regulated market due to fears of nuclear reactor meltdowns and accidents, such as in Fukushima and Chernobyl. As such Cameco is highly dependent on the public’s opinion on nuclear energy and government actions towards the industry. For example, in 2023, the German government decided to close all nuclear reactors in the country. If there was to be another meltdown —although highly unlikely due to technological improvements — or other countries go back on their COP28 pledges and decide to enact similar policies, then Cameco would experience a massive decrease in its value.