Unique Strategic Positioning Lifted Centrus Energy (LEU)

Riverwater Partners, an investment management company, released its “Small Cap Strategy” Q4 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Strategy underperformed the Russell 2000 Index during the fourth quarter as well as in FY2025. The stock selection drove the underperformance of the Strategy in the quarter. The strategy’s emphasis on high-quality stocks lagged behind broader market trends. However, the firm expects the environment to be more favorable for high-quality businesses in 2026. In addition, please check the Strategy’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its fourth-quarter 2025 investor letter, Riverwater Partners Small Cap Strategy highlighted Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) as a positive contributor. Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE: LEU) is an energy company that supplies nuclear fuel components to the nuclear power industry. Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) shares traded between $49.40 and $464.25 over the past 52 weeks. On January 22, 2026, Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) stock closed at $302.37 per share. One-month return of Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) was 18.90%, and its shares lost 21.05% of their value over the last three months. Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) has a market capitalization of $5.507 billion.

Riverwater Partners Small Cap Strategy stated the following regarding Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) in its fourth quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) was our top performer for the year as the market increasingly recognized its unique strategic positioning at the nexus of U.S. national security, nuclear energy independence, and next-generation reactor deployment. As the only U.S.-owned and licensed producer of both LEU and HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium), Centrus is a critical beneficiary of the structural shift away from Russian nuclear fuel supply and toward domestic enrichment, a theme reinforced by strong bipartisan and Department of Energy support.

Performance was further driven by rising demand expectations tied to advanced reactors and SMRs (small modular reactors), as well as the growing role of nuclear power in supporting AI-driven data center load growth and long-term decarbonization goals.

This thesis was validated when Centrus was awarded approximately $900 million on January 5, 2026 (subsequent to quarter-end) by the Department of Energy to build out additional enrichment capacity, materially strengthening its long-term earnings visibility and strategic value. Following the significant re-rating, we exited the position in full as we believe a substantial portion of the favorable policy, contract, and growth outlook has now been reflected in the share price.”

In another article, we covered Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) and shared the list of best performing stocks in 2025. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q4 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.