Transcript: Cameco Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call

Cameco (TSX: CCO ) held its second-quarter earnings conference call on Friday. Below is the complete transcript from the call. This transcript is brought to you APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit for a consultation.

The full earnings call is available at Summary Cameco Corporation reported a mixed financial performance for Q2 2026, with results lower than last year due to the absence of a one-time contribution from Westinghouse related to a project in 2025, yet underlying business fundamentals remain strong. The company is strategically positioned with tier-one uranium assets, fuel services capabilities, and investments in Westinghouse, focusing on long-term value creation and capturing future market upside through disciplined contracting.

Cameco expects robust future growth driven by increasing global recognition of nuclear energy's role in energy security and decarbonization, with ongoing policy support and a strong pipeline of nuclear projects, including 91 AP1000 reactor opportunities. Operational challenges were noted at Key Lake, MacArthur River, and Cigar Lake, yet the company maintained its production outlook for 2026, emphasizing its flexibility and risk management strategies. The company announced an increase in its ownership interest in the high-grade Cigar Lake Mine, reinforcing its commitment to key uranium assets.

Management highlighted that the long-term uranium price reached decade highs and indicated a positive trajectory in uranium and fuel markets despite not yet achieving replacement-rate demand. Westinghouse's strategic importance was emphasized with its role in the nuclear power value chain and the potential for future growth through AP1000, AP300, and eVinci technologies. Cameco confirmed its strategic partnership with the US Department of Commerce remains intact, focusing on securing baseload power and advancing nuclear projects. Full Transcript OPERATOR Thank you for standing by.

This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation second quarter 2026 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. Following the introductory remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star and zero. Webcast participants are asked to wait until the Q&A session before submitting their questions, as the information they are looking for may be provided during the presentation. The Q&A session will conclude at 9:00 am Eastern Time.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Cory Kos, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications. Please go ahead. Cory Kos, Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Cameco's second quarter 2026 conference call.

I would like to acknowledge that we're speaking from our corporate office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, which is on Treaty 6 territory, the traditional territory of the Cree people and the homeland of the Métis. With us on today's call are Tim Gitzel, Chief Executive Officer; Grant Isaac, President and Chief Operating Officer; Heidi Shockey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Rachelle Girard, Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Officer; and Dominic Kieran, Global Managing Director of Cameco UK. Tim will provide some commentary to start the call and we will then open it up for your questions.

Today's call will be approximately one hour, concluding at 9:00 am Eastern Time. Our goal is always to be open and transparent with our communication, so if you do not have time to get into your questions during this call, or if you'd like to get into detailed financial modeling questions about the quarterly results, we'd be happy to respond and follow up to any inquiries. There are a few ways you can contact us with additional questions. You can reach out to the contacts provided in our news release.

You can submit a question through the Send Us a Message link in the Invest section of our website, or you can use the Ask a Question form at the bottom of the webcast screen, and we will be happy to follow up after the call. If you joined the conference call through our website event page, there are slides available which will be displayed during the call for your reference. com. Today's conference call is open to all members of the investment community, including the media.

During the Q&A session, please limit yourself to two questions and then return to the queue. Please note that this conference call will include forward-looking information which is based on our current assumptions and actual results could differ materially. You should not rely on forward-looking statements, and we do not plan to update them after this call except as required by law. For more information on the assumptions we've made and the risk factors involved, please see our most recent Annual Information Form and MD&A.

And with that, I will turn it over to Tim. Tim Gitzel, President and Chief Executive Officer Well, thank you, Cory, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss Cameco's second quarter and first half 2026 results. Well, the year is flying by.

It's the middle of summer here in Saskatchewan, Canada, which is really the inflection point where people here have stopped complaining about the past cold winter and they start worrying about the upcoming cold winter as we move past the halfway point of the year. I want to start by reinforcing the consistent message you've heard from us for a while now. Our strategy is built for long-term value creation and our decisions and activities will be centered around that strategy. As a result, we are currently on track with our expectations for the year.

Year to date, we've seen the support for nuclear energy not only growing but becoming more tangible. Around the world, governments, utilities, energy-intensive industries and the public are recognizing that nuclear energy is essential to energy security, national security, economic competitiveness and decarbonization objectives. We see that recognition translating into policy support, new build discussions, life extension decisions, uprates, fuel security initiatives and improved public perception. Here in Canada, the federal government released its Nuclear Energy Strategy in June.

The strategy highlights the role that nuclear is expected to play in achieving national energy security and economic objectives while supporting emissions reduction. In the United States, the Department of Energy's conditional commitment to support deployment of AP1000 reactors is another very important indicator of the growing alignment between policy, proven and deployment-ready Gen 3 technology and the need to execute. We've said many times that the next phase of nuclear growth will be defined by delivery. Ambition matters, but execution is what brings megawatts into the grid and, important to us at Cameco, brings fuel requirements into the market.

That's why we continue to believe that the value of proven technologies, experienced operators and established supply chains will be critical to the equation as the sector moves from aspiration to implementation. For Cameco, that alignment is very constructive. We are positioned across the nuclear fuel cycle with tier-one uranium assets in stable jurisdictions, fuel services capabilities, strategic investments in Westinghouse and Global Laser Enrichment, and strong long-term customer relationships built over decades. On the uranium and fuel market side, conditions continued to improve in the first half of the year.

The long-term uranium price strengthened to decade highs and we saw increased on-market and off-market contracting activity. Customers continue to focus on security of supply with notable interest from both sovereign and commercial fuel buyers. At the same time, our contracting discipline remains one of our key competitive advantages. We continue to be patient and selective in committing supply.

We layer in volumes where we see contracts that support our strategy and where we believe we can incorporate an appropriate level of downside protection with exposure to improving future market conditions. That discipline matters because sustainable supply does not simply appear because demand is growing. It requires long-term contracts to back long-term investments planned by capable and experienced operators. Over the next five years we have contracts in place for average annual deliveries of more than 28 million pounds of uranium per year.

And as the market continues to improve, we expect to continue layering in volumes that capture greater future upside. We continued on a positive contracting trajectory in Q2. However, quarterly results in our business will always reflect the normal variability of customer delivery schedules, product mix and the timing of activity across the fuel cycle. The second quarter of 2026 was no exception.

Our financial results were lower than the strong second quarter and first half that we reported last year, largely because 2025 included a significant contribution from Westinghouse related to its participation in the Dukovany reactor construction project in the Czech Republic. But looking past the impact of that payment, the underlying fundamentals of our business remain strong. A few of our outlook metrics changed as a result of the strength of the US dollar, which drove a change to our exchange rate assumption. Average realized prices continue to improve in both our uranium and fuel services segments and our annual production outlook is unchanged.

5 million pounds of U3O8 is important. That's because to date in 2026 we've been reminded that safely operating complex, heavily regulated uranium mining and milling assets in remote northern Saskatchewan is never without challenges. Spring road conditions affected northern supply routes during the quarter, contributing to temporary unplanned operational disruptions at Key Lake and MacArthur River and, subsequent to quarter end, we also experienced operational challenges that had Cigar Lake production suspended for a couple weeks.

While we were able to address and overcome those unexpected developments with no impact on annual outlook, they were good reminders of why we have built flexibility into our supply strategy and why operating experience, risk management and credible teams matter so much in this industry. Our assets are world class, but they are by no means simple assets. They require disciplined planning, technical capability and constant attention to safety and reliability. And that's what our teams across the company bring to the table every day.

During the quarter we closed our agreement to increase our ownership interest in the Cigar Lake Mine. The high-grade Cigar Lake Mine is one of the most important uranium mines in the world and increasing our interest reinforces our commitment to own and operate this scarce, proven tier-one asset that we expect will be essential in supporting the growth of nuclear energy. In our Westinghouse segment, performance in the first half was strong. As I said, once you look past the benefit that we realized related to the Dukovany project last year.

As an operating business with deep exposure across the nuclear power value chain, Westinghouse is embedded in the day-to-day needs of the global nuclear industry while also being well positioned to drive the next wave of new nuclear capacity through its AP1000, AP300 and eVinci technologies. New nuclear capacity creates long-term demand for uranium and conversion and fuel fabrication and related services. That's why Westinghouse is so strategically important to our broader growth thesis. It gives us exposure to the full nuclear fuel cycle and to the technologies that can help shape the next era of nuclear deployment.

So our message for the second half is straightforward. Our annual plan remains intact, the market continues to strengthen and Cameco's long-term strategic position is becoming even more compelling. We have flexible supply, a strong balance sheet, disciplined capital allocation and decades of experience operating assets in jurisdictions that customers can rely on. We believe the risks to supply continue to outweigh the risks to demand and we are not prepared to dilute the value of our assets by committing supply into contracts that do not appropriately reflect the durability of market fundamentals.

With tier-one assets, strategic investments across the fuel and reactor life cycles, strong customer relationships and a proven operating track record, Cameco is uniquely positioned to support the continued growth of nuclear energy while creating sustainable long-term value for our shareholders, customers and communities. So thank you for your continued interest and support. Before moving to questions, I want to recognize Dominique Minier, who has stepped down from Cameco's Board of Directors effective July 26, 2026 to focus on his other professional commitments. Mr.

Minier has served as a director since 2023 and has been a member of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, the Technical Committee and the Safety, Health and Environment Committee since he joined the Board. On behalf of the Board and management team, I want to thank Dominique for his contributions to Cameco and we wish him continued success in his many pursuits. So with that, operator, we are now ready to take questions. OPERATOR We will now begin the question-and-answer session.

In the interest of time, we ask that you limit yourself to one with one supplemental. If you have additional questions, you are welcome to rejoin the queue. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request.

If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Webcast participants are welcome to submit questions through the box at the bottom of the webcast frame. The Cameco investor relations team will follow up with you by email after the call.

Once again, anyone on the conference call who wishes to ask a question may press star one at this time. The first question today comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Brian Lee, Analyst at Goldman Sachs Hey guys, good morning.

Thanks for taking the questions. Appreciate a lot of this AP1000 pipeline disclosures in the MDA. So I wanted to ask first on that. 5 billion loan funding from EDF, that's kind of toward the top of the stack in terms of timing, potential.

One, is that a fair characterization? And then two, can you describe kind of what milestones we could see on that process between now and, let's say, year end and then what kind of engagement you're seeing from the utilities since that was launched or announced a few months ago and I had to follow up. Tim Gitzel, President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah, thanks a lot, Brian, for your question. We have our global managing director, Dominic Kieran, here with us this morning.

So I'm going to pass it over to Dominic to say a few words about Westinghouse. Dominic Kieran, Chair of the Westinghouse Board Tim, thank you. Good morning, everybody on the call. Good morning, Brian.

Let me maybe just start with a comment that, as Tim mentioned, I'm very limited around what I can say about the offering at Brookfield that Westinghouse announced this morning. But Brian, let me get into your question. So in June 2026, Westinghouse announced the 17 and a half billion US dollars conditional commitment from the Department of Energy Energy Dominance Financing Team. And this is really to facilitate the ordering of AP1000 long-lead items.

And why is this important? S. So to your specific question around what are the next steps that you can see? Well, the next steps are that we will move to definitive agreements.

S. as well as the Department of Energy. Tim Gitzel, President and Chief Executive Officer Brian, I should have mentioned as well that Dominic, as probably everyone knows, is the chair of the Westinghouse board. So I just wanted to put that into context.

Grant's on the board, Heidi's on the board as well. Brian Lee, Analyst at Goldman Sachs Yeah, I appreciate the sensitivity around the different constituents involved. Fair enough. Second question, maybe just on the uranium segment.

Pretty encouraging to see the realized uranium per pound ASP increase a good bit here. Curious, was that all because of the stronger market pricing or did that have anything to do with restructuring of contracts? And then how should we think about pricing, the construct heading into next year? I know heading into 2026 your view had been mostly flat, so it's nice to see this uptick halfway through the year.

Would this maybe not also be the sort of baseline to expect for trendline heading into next year as well? Just any thoughts there? Tim Gitzel, President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you. Thanks, Grant.

Grant Isaac, President & Chief Operating Officer Yeah, Brian. The uranium side of the market continues to move from strength to strength just in general across the industry.