Is NuScale Power the Smartest Investment You Can Make Today? | The Motley Fool

Wall Street has a tendency to swing between being overly optimistic about an investment idea and overly pessimistic. The shift can be dramatic and swift, and the recent 55% or so price decline in NuScale Power ( SMR +2.24%) is just one of many examples. Is the massive drawdown in NuScale Power's stock an opportunity or a warning? Here's what you need to know. The smartest investors understand Mr. Market Mr. Market was the invention of Benjamin Graham , one of the investors who helped train Warren Buffett. According to Graham, as an investor, Mr. Market is your business partner. Some days, Mr. Market is exuberant and will pay almost any price for half of the business you share. Other days, Mr. Market is despondent and will sell you his share of the business at a bargain price. Image source: Getty Images. Most days, Mr. Market falls somewhere between the two extremes. However, as an investor, it is your job to understand Mr. Market's mood and take advantage of it when you can. Essentially, Graham was laying the early groundwork for what later became known as behavioral finance . There are actually two pieces to consider in this story, however, and they will help you decide whether NuScale Power is the smartest investment you can make right now. Be careful with your own emotions The first part of NuScale Power that you need to understand is the company. It is a money-losing start-up attempting to build a business around a new and untested technology. Only the most aggressive investors should even consider such an investment. For a risk-averse investor, it would likely be a mistake to own NuScale Power at this point in its existence. That said, NuScale Power has an attractive story. The new technology the company is looking to introduce is small-scale modular nuclear reactors. Such reactors, if ever built, would be a big step forward for nuclear power . They would be constructed in a factory, with the goal of making them cheaper and quicker to produce. Their size would make them easier to place where needed, and ideally, they would be safer than traditional site-build reactors. If NuScale Power can build the business it hopes to, there could be significant opportunities ahead for investors. In fact, the company already has a potential first customer. RoPower, a Romanian utility , is examining a plan for a power plant that would use six NuScale Power reactors. NuScale Power is currently generating revenue by acting as a consultant in RoPower's approval process. NYSE: SMR Key Data Points The big step for NuScale is going to be getting the first sale of its small-scale modular nuclear reactors over the finish line. The problem is that this isn't expected to happen until late 2026 or early 2027. Even then, a final sale is still contingent on RoPower getting the necessary financing. The big issue here, however, is that at the start of 2025, NuScale was telling investors that a final decision...

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