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CCJ's Share of Uranium Output Down 20% in Q3: Will 2026 Targets be Met?
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Key Takeaways
Cameco's Q3 uranium production fell 20% to 3.5 million pounds, prompting a narrower 2026 output outlook.
Extended maintenance at Key Lake cut McArthur River/Key Lake output by 50%, with commissioning still underway.
Cameco shares fell 19.7% in a year, while its 2026 and 2027 earnings estimates declined over the past 60 days.
Cameco Corporation (CCJ - Free Report) reported a 20% year-over-year decline in its share of uranium production to 3.5 million pounds in the third quarter of 2026. The company's share of production at Cigar Lake increased 9% to 2.4 million pounds, while output from McArthur River/Key Lake fell 50% to 1.1 million pounds.
The decline at McArthur River/Key Lake primarily resulted from an extended annual maintenance shutdown at the Key Lake mill. The outage involved installing new infrastructure and repairing major existing facilities. The extensive work required a longer shutdown than in previous years, which continued into the fourth quarter. Commissioning of the new infrastructure is now underway.
Cameco has thus narrowed its production outlook for McArthur River/Key Lake to 10-10.5 million pounds from the previously stated range of 10-11.5 million pounds for 2026. Cameco also cautioned that potential restart challenges and delays in commissioning the new equipment could affect production. Meanwhile, Cameco maintained its 2026 production guidance for Cigar Lake at 9.5-10 million pounds.
Cameco now expects its share of total uranium production to be 19.5-20.5 million pounds in 2026 compared with its previous outlook of 19.5-21.5 million pounds. This would mark a decline from the 23.4 million pounds produced in 2025. Through the first nine months of 2026, Cameco's share of uranium production stood at 13.6 million pounds, down 9% from the year-ago period.
Peer Energy Fuels Inc. (UUUU - Free Report) mined 385,000 pounds of contained uranium during the third quarter across its Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora operations. This brought its year-to-date mined production to approximately 1.125 million pounds. For 2026, the company expects to mine 2-2.5 million pounds of contained uranium.
CCJ’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
In the past year, Cameco shares have fallen 19.7% against the industry’s 17.4% decline. Energy Fuels and Centrus Energy (LEU - Free Report) declined 55.9% and 59.2% in the same timeframe.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CCJ stock is trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.07 compared with the industry’s 3.8. Energy Fuels is trading higher at 12.17, while Centrus Energy is trading lower at 4.87.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cameco’s earnings for 2026 of 86 cents per share indicates a year-over-year decline of 16.5%. The same for 2027 implies growth of 104.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The consensus estimate for Cameco’s earnings for both 2026 and 2027 has moved down over the past 60 days, as shown in the chart below.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
Image: Bigstock
CCJ's Share of Uranium Output Down 20% in Q3: Will 2026 Targets be Met?
Key Takeaways
Cameco Corporation (CCJ - Free Report) reported a 20% year-over-year decline in its share of uranium production to 3.5 million pounds in the third quarter of 2026. The company's share of production at Cigar Lake increased 9% to 2.4 million pounds, while output from McArthur River/Key Lake fell 50% to 1.1 million pounds.
The decline at McArthur River/Key Lake primarily resulted from an extended annual maintenance shutdown at the Key Lake mill. The outage involved installing new infrastructure and repairing major existing facilities. The extensive work required a longer shutdown than in previous years, which continued into the fourth quarter. Commissioning of the new infrastructure is now underway.
Cameco has thus narrowed its production outlook for McArthur River/Key Lake to 10-10.5 million pounds from the previously stated range of 10-11.5 million pounds for 2026. Cameco also cautioned that potential restart challenges and delays in commissioning the new equipment could affect production. Meanwhile, Cameco maintained its 2026 production guidance for Cigar Lake at 9.5-10 million pounds.
Cameco now expects its share of total uranium production to be 19.5-20.5 million pounds in 2026 compared with its previous outlook of 19.5-21.5 million pounds. This would mark a decline from the 23.4 million pounds produced in 2025. Through the first nine months of 2026, Cameco's share of uranium production stood at 13.6 million pounds, down 9% from the year-ago period.
Peer Energy Fuels Inc. (UUUU - Free Report) mined 385,000 pounds of contained uranium during the third quarter across its Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora operations. This brought its year-to-date mined production to approximately 1.125 million pounds. For 2026, the company expects to mine 2-2.5 million pounds of contained uranium.
CCJ’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
In the past year, Cameco shares have fallen 19.7% against the industry’s 17.4% decline. Energy Fuels and Centrus Energy (LEU - Free Report) declined 55.9% and 59.2% in the same timeframe.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CCJ stock is trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 12.07 compared with the industry’s 3.8. Energy Fuels is trading higher at 12.17, while Centrus Energy is trading lower at 4.87.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cameco’s earnings for 2026 of 86 cents per share indicates a year-over-year decline of 16.5%. The same for 2027 implies growth of 104.7%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The consensus estimate for Cameco’s earnings for both 2026 and 2027 has moved down over the past 60 days, as shown in the chart below.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.