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This story features PALADIN ENERGY LIMITED, and other companies.
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: PDN
The company is included in ASX200, ASX300 and ALL-ORDS
Middle East supply challenges took another victim last week with Paladin Energy reporting an unexpected 3Q26 loss as costs rose.
- Uranium producers hit by rising costs; Paladin's turn to disappoint
- U308 spot price market subdued
- Goldman Sachs' long term bullish view on nuclear energy
- Lotus Resources is back as most shorted ASX stock
By Danielle Ecuyer
Producing U308 at higher costs
Australian uranium stocks are not immune to egregious stock price moves post quarterly updates.
It was Paladin Energy’s ((PDN)) turn last week to be popped into the meat grinder of disappointment post releasing its March quarter financial statements.
As highlighted by Ord Minnett, the shares “tanked” -12% as a net profit after tax loss of -US$3m surprised friend and foe.
Admin and depreciation & amortisation costs were around twice as high as the analyst’s forecasts. Selling costs also proved more elevated than expected.
The changes result in earnings (EBITDA) forecasts being lowered by -12% to -15% across future estimates.
The April cost guidance from Paladin of US$44/lb-US$48/lb also inferred higher costs for the June quarter.
The move to full scale mining at Langer Heinrich, as well as higher diesel and reagent prices, are at play, the broker explains.
The ramp up of Langer Heinrich to full scale production of 6mlbs is expected by June. The Patterson Lake South project in Canada is continuing to progress through regulatory approvals.
With no evidence of an end to the war in the Middle East or to supply challenges across energy markets, Ord Minnett expects diesel and reagent prices to remain high through to the end of 2026.
Ord Minnett has been one of the more outspoken commentators around Paladin and continues to rate the stock as a Sell on what is viewed as a “lofty” valuation of 21x FY27 earnings (EBITDA).
The company does not pay a dividend, hence shareholders require an upbeat view on the uranium market and a “long term investment” outlook.
On the back of reduced earnings forecasts, the target price is trimmed to $9.50 from $9.75.
Overall, Ord Minnett believes it is hard to “justify” the share price at current levels, which infer less than a 3% operating cash flow yield until Patterson Lake South commences in 2032.
On Monday, the shares closed at $10.38 in Sydney.
US utility’s Request for Proposal drains interest in spot market
As highlighted by industry consultants TradeTech, the spot price market was relatively light on transactions over the course of last week.
A total of 450klbs of U308 amounted to nine transactions, with four on Monday (May 11) for 200klbs of U308.
Two deals took place on Wednesday, two deals on Thursday and one wrapped up the week on Friday. The U308 spot price traded in a range of US$86.50/lb to US$86.75/lb and closed the week down -US$0.25/lb at US$86/lb post the final transaction for 50klb delivery in June at Orano’s facility in France.
As has been the case for the prior few weeks, the consultants highlighted buyers preferring to pay a higher price for delivery of material at ConverDyn’s US facility.
The more subdued U308 spot market was attributed to market participants being more focused on submitting long-term offers to the Requests for Proposal from a large US utility for up to 7.2mlbs of U308 between 2027 and 2035.
The TradeTech Mid-Term U308 price indicator stands at US$86/lb and the Long-Term price indicator at US$90/lb.
As energy supply challenges remain elevated globally, Italy is the latest country to announce the government is looking to approve a legal framework to restart nuclear power generation.
After the country shuttered its last two operating plants in 1990, post a referendum to phase out nuclear power after Chernobyl in 1987, the government is aiming to reintroduce nuclear energy generation via the development of small modular reactors, supported by the private sector.
TradeTech also highlights the latest update from Goldman Sachs’ Nuclear Nuggets: Global Reactor Tracker.
The broker’s modeling has added around 46GW of small modular reactor (SMR) deployments by 2045. In turn, this raises its nuclear generation forecast by 6% and adds 62mlbs of U308 demand, or a 17% rise over prior long-term forecasts.
In other corporate news, Peninsula Energy ((PEN)) raised US$56m for the expansion of its Lance project in Wyoming, including an institutional placement of 62.4m shares at $0.35, which was fully underwritten to raise $21.8m.
Latest short interests
According to ASIC data from May 12, Lotus Resources ((LOT)) has moved back up to the most shorted stock on the ASX.
The short position rose 0.9% to 16.01% over the prior week.
Boss Energy ((BOE)) is in sixth position with a slight decrease in short positioning to 13.26% from 13.31%.
Paladin stands in fifteenth position with a 9.41% short interest, up slightly from 9.11% the previous week.
Peninsula Energy shorts rose by 0.54% to 1.22%.
For more U308 reading from FNArena, see:
https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/05/12/uranium-week-shorts-surge-in-u308-stocks/
https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/05/05/uranium-week-prices-rise-producers-struggle/
https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/04/28/uranium-week-rising-interest-from-utilities/
Uranium companies listed on the ASX:
| ASX CODE | DATE | LAST PRICE | WEEKLY % MOVE | 52WK HIGH | 52WK LOW | P/E | CONSENSUS TARGET | UPSIDE/DOWNSIDE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1AE | 15/05/2026 | 0.0600 | 0.00% | $0.16 | $0.05 | |||
| AEE | 15/05/2026 | 0.1300 |  – 7.14% | $0.28 | $0.11 | |||
| AGE | 15/05/2026 | 0.0400 | -11.11% | $0.06 | $0.02 | $0.070 |  75.0% | |
| AKN | 15/05/2026 | 0.0200 | 0.00% | $0.03 | $0.01 | |||
| ASN | 15/05/2026 | 0.0600 | 27.27% | $0.13 | $0.04 | |||
| BKY | 15/05/2026 | 0.3900 | – 3.49% | $0.70 | $0.37 | |||
| BMN | 15/05/2026 | 3.7100 | – 9.60% | $5.25 | $2.23 | $4.800 | 29.4% | |
| BOE | 15/05/2026 | 1.2600 | -10.81% | $4.75 | $1.07 | 24.0 | $1.575 | 25.0% |
| BSN | 15/05/2026 | 0.0400 | 0.00% | $0.08 | $0.01 | |||
| C29 | 15/05/2026 | 0.0300 | – 2.94% | $0.04 | $0.01 | |||
| CXO | 15/05/2026 | 0.3200 | – 5.80% | $0.39 | $0.08 | $0.300 | – 6.3% | |
| CXU | 15/05/2026 | 0.0500 | -11.29% | $0.07 | $0.01 | |||
| DEV | 15/05/2026 | 0.1900 | – 7.14% | $0.28 | $0.07 | |||
| DYL | 15/05/2026 | 1.6500 | – 5.52% | $2.97 | $1.15 | -60.7 | $2.215 | 34.2% |
| EL8 | 15/05/2026 | 0.2600 | – 3.70% | $0.50 | $0.24 | |||
| HAR | 15/05/2026 | 0.1200 | – 3.57% | $0.25 | $0.05 | |||
| I88 | 15/05/2026 | 0.1600 | 0.00% | $0.76 | $0.08 | |||
| KOB | 15/05/2026 | 0.0400 | – 2.56% | $0.09 | $0.03 | |||
| LAM | 15/05/2026 | 0.7300 | 0.00% | $0.93 | $0.56 | |||
| LOT | 15/05/2026 | 0.6200 | -21.05% | $3.20 | $0.63 | $2.200 | 254.8% | |
| MEU | 15/05/2026 | 0.1100 | – 4.55% | $0.19 | $0.04 | |||
| NXG | 15/05/2026 | 15.5700 | – 6.46% | $20.47 | $8.24 | -13218.5 | $20.150 | 29.4% |
| ORP | 15/05/2026 | 0.0700 | – 4.29% | $0.08 | $0.02 | |||
| PDN | 15/05/2026 | 10.2900 | -19.38% | $15.10 | $5.41 | -228.5 | $13.217 | 28.4% |
| PEN | 15/05/2026 | 0.3800 | -10.00% | $1.08 | $0.28 | |||
| SLX | 15/05/2026 | 5.4200 | – 9.27% | $10.85 | $2.95 | |||
| TOE | 15/05/2026 | 0.5500 | – 2.56% | $0.63 | $0.16 | |||
| WCN | 15/05/2026 | 0.0200 | 21.43% | $0.03 | $0.01 |
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For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: BOE - BOSS ENERGY LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: LOT - LOTUS RESOURCES LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: PDN - PALADIN ENERGY LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: PEN - PENINSULA ENERGY LIMITED