LTBR earnings call analysis

NASDAQ:LTBR Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 6/6/2026 Didi | Conference Operator: Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Lightbridge Corporation Business Update and First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Matthew Abinante, Director of Investor Relations for Lightbridge Corporation.

Matthew Abinante | Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Didi, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Our earnings press release was distributed yesterday and is available on the investor relations page of the Lightbridge website at www.ltbridge.com. Joining us on the call today is Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer, along with Andrei Mushikov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operation, Scott Holcomb, Vice President of Engineering, Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, and Leslie Mills, Controller. I want to remind our listeners that any statements on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's competitive position and product and service offerings. During today's call, words such as expect, anticipate, believe, and intend will be used in our discussion of future goals and events. This presentation is based on current expectations and involves certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. These and other risks are set forth in more detail in Lightbridge's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our first speaker, Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge. Hello, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Hello, Matt. And thank you all for joining us to discuss light bridges first quarter 2026 business update. We have made meaningful progress on several fronts in 2026 we expanded our intellectual property protection across three major jurors jurisdictions. We advanced our fuel qualification program through a new engineering partnership for thermal hydraulic testing. We deepened our engagement with the broader nuclear research community. And we continue to grow our in-house engineering organization. Lightbridge now employs over two dozen full-time engineers across neutronics, thermal hydraulics, fuel performance, fuel assembly mechanical design, licensing materials, high performance computing, and program management. And we are still hiring. We received patent allowances from three major jurisdictions this quarter. each protecting a distinct dimension of light bridge fuels architecture across key global reactor markets. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office issued an allowance covering fuel assemblies comprising helically twisted fuel assemblies arranged in a mixed grid pattern, protection directly relevant to pressurized heavy water reactors, including Canada's CANDU fleet. we secured broader claims covering mixed grid assemblies without specifying particular grid configurations consistent with our approach in other countries. The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice of allowance covering fuel assemblies and nuclear reactors incorporating our spirally twisted multi-lobed fuel element technology, also designed for pressurized heavy water reactors including can-do type designs. This is part of a patent family that now includes five U.S. patents. And the European Patent Office issued a notice of allowance covering our multi-zone fuel element design, specifically fuel elements with variable radial zone thicknesses along the axial direction that enable precise control of neutron flux distribution throughout the fuel cycle. including elements produced via additive manufacturing. This patent allowance extends protection across 39 contracting states, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and all major European nuclear markets. Together, these three allowances deepen a worldwide patent portfolio spanning the United States, Canada, Europe, and other key potential markets for light-bridge fuel and reflect the genuine technical novelty of what we are building. I'll now turn to Andrei Mushakov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations, to walk through the program highlights in detail. Andrei?

Andrei Mushikov | Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations

Thank you, Seth. As Seth mentioned, we continue to make progress across our fuel development and qualification activities. In April 2026, we entered into project task statement number six under our strategic partnership project agreement with IDEXX National Laboratory to support the development of core extruded fuel rod segments for future radiation testing. This program builds upon our prior INL fabrication work and is intended to further refine manufacturing processes and materials necessary to produce fuel rods and rodlets in their final cross-sectional configurations. The scope of work is critical. to keep us on track as we advance toward the radiation testing of fuel rod segments under steady state and off-normal conditions. Initial process development activities will be conducted using depleted uranium, with the expectation that upon successful demonstration, these processes may be applied to enrich uranium to produce fuel rod segments for radiation experiments and test reactors, including the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory, or ATR. scope of work includes enhancements to fabrication processes and equipment development and testing of key materials including central displacer alloys and clearing behavior and validation of co-extrusion techniques for both cylindrical and multi-level fuel designs this program also includes preparation of fuel rod segment specimens, including those with controlled defects, to support non-destructive evaluation, calibration, and irradiation testing. Separately, in March of this year, we entered into an initial engineering contract on the theme of work with Stern Laboratories, Inc., an employee-owned Canadian provider of specialized nuclear experimental services. to assess the thermal and hydraulic performance of light-bridge fuel for use in light-water reactors. This is a multi-phase program. Phase 1 covers the design and fabrication of an electrically heated fuel simulator, acceptance testing, and single-road critical heat flux investigation at steam water conditions up to 1450 psi. A is expected to take approximately one year to complete. Phase two expands to a nine-rod critical heat flux investigation across a broader pressure range of 600 to 2200 PSI. Phase three is a multi-year thermal hydraulic test program structured to directly support U.S. regulatory licensing of light-bridge fuel for the domestic LWR fleet. Stern Labs brings decades of high-quality laboratory services to the global nuclear industry. and their expertise in manufacturing electrically-heated nuclear fuel simulators and performing full-scale component qualification tests makes them the right partner for this program. Data generated through this work will be foundational to demonstrating the improved thermal margins of light-bridge fuel and building the evidentiary records that the NRC will require on the path to commercial deployment. Finally, We continue to make great progress in building up our fuel organization with numerous in-house employees added during the first quarter across thermal hydraulics and safety analysis, fuel performance modeling, regulatory licensing, materials, and program management disciplines. These additions strengthen our technical depths and programmatic capabilities to execute on our near-term and mid-term development milestones. At the same time, we view team expansion as an ongoing effort and expect to continue our recruitment activities this year and into 2027 and 2028 as we grow our organization to support advancement of our technology toward commercial deployment. Our approach remains disciplined and aligned with program needs, ensuring that we attract top talent and build a world-class team while maintaining capital efficiency. With that, I'll turn the call over to Scott. Scott?

Scott Holcomb | Vice President of Engineering

Thank you, Andre. I'll start with our ongoing irradiation testing program at INL. In November of last year, we successfully inserted fuel material coupons into the advanced test reactor, marking the start of in-reactor testing of LightBridge's uranium zirconium alloy fuel material samples. That testing is ongoing, and the data being generated will directly inform our fuel performance modeling and support the regulatory licensing process for commercial deployment of LightBridge fuel. We expect the initial batch of partially irradiated samples to be removed from the ATR in the coming weeks, with post-irradiation examination expected to begin later this year. Next, I want to cover our research and industry engagement activities during the quarter, our presentations at TMS 2026, and our selection to the Industry Advisory Board of a major DOE-funded research initiative at Penn State. both of which reflect the growing recognition of LightBridge's technical program within the broader nuclear research and advanced fuels community. In March, two members of our technical team presented research at the TMS 2026 annual meeting and exhibition in San Diego, one of the premier global conferences for materials, material science, metallurgy, and nuclear fuel technology, hosted by the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society. Dr. Boone Beausoleil, our director of materials, presented his paper, co-authored by myself, titled Metal Fuels Opportunities Beyond Sodium Fast Reactors. That presentation examined the expanding applicability of metallic fuel concepts to a broader class of advanced reactor designs beyond the sodium fast reactor systems that have historically been the primary driver for metal fuel development. The performance attributes of metallic fuels, including thermal conductivity, fabricability, and safety margins, translate into compelling advantages well beyond the reactor types where they first emerged. And light-bridge fuel is a direct expression of that thesis applied to water-cooled reactors, the world's largest installed reactor base. Dr. Kyle Perrin, manager of our Fuel Performance Modeling Group, presented it, Uranium Zirconium Alloy Properties Review and Applicability to Light-Bridge Corporation Fuel Performance Activities. which I also co-authored alongside Boone Beausoleil and Raymond Wang, our director of licensing. In this paper, it was demonstrated that LightBridge's proprietary used ER2 fuel can be accurately modeled and characterized through a newly validated LightBridge-specific framework built entirely from measured data generated from our own fuel material coupon samples. Our validated framework, grounded in actual Lightbridge-generated data, is foundational to how we demonstrate our fuel performance to the NRC and to utilities throughout the qualification process. Both presentations were delivered during the metal fuel session, chaired by Professor Eric Moore-Josso of MIT, and the engagement from the material science and nuclear fuel community reinforced our view that the technical foundation of Lightbridge fuel is sound and is attracting the attention of the right people in the right rooms. Also in March, LightBridge was selected to serve on the industry advisory board of a $6 million nuclear materials research project funded by the DOE's Nuclear Energy University Program, awarded to the Pennsylvania State University. The four-year project, the Big Ten Plus Network for the Study of Nuclear Materials at the Microscale, or BTN2M2, will establish a multi-university consortium and a dedicated nuclear materials microfabrication facility using micro- and nano-scale characterization techniques. The consortium includes Penn State, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, the University of New Mexico, and Virginia Commonwealth University, with additional support from Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Lightbridge joins Westinghouse Electric Company, X-Energy, and Kairos Power on the advisory board, with our focus centered on the irradiation behavior of cladding materials for co-extruded fuels. an area directly relevant to the continued qualification of Lightbridge fuel. Back to you, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Scott. We believe the prospects for growth in the nuclear power sector are the strongest they have ever been. Nuclear power set a record for global generation in 2025. More than 70 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity is under construction worldwide, one of the highest levels in 30 years. The United States government has taken sweeping executive action to accelerate reactor permitting, reform the NRC's regulatory process, and rebuild the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain. The DOE's Uprise Initiative, which followed the executive orders the President issued in May, is specifically focused on power upgrades for the existing fleet. a direct validation of the commercial pathway we have been building toward. And the technology sector has made its position clear. Meta, Amazon, Google, and others have committed to long-term nuclear procurement at gigawatt scale because they understand that AI-driven data centers require firm, reliable, baseload power that intermittent sources cannot provide. What we are hearing from utilities reflect all of this. Governors are calling them, states are competing for industrial investment and data center development, and the single most important thing any state can offer right now is guaranteed power. The pressure is translating into serious substantive conversations about how to get more power from the reactors already in place sooner rather than later. It used to be that states could attract an industrial plant with tax incentives. Today, if you cannot guarantee power, the plant will not come, regardless of what else you offer. The dynamic is building utility interest in light-bridge fuel. Our potential market is large and growing. There are approximately 440 operating power reactors worldwide today. to triple nuclear globally and quadruple it in the United States by 2050, goals that the announced construction pipeline suggests are achievable. The world will need more power from the reactors that will be built and from reactors that are already operating. Lightbridge Fuel is designed to deliver exactly that within the same sized cores and plants that exist today and with even greater safety. I'll now turn the call over to Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, for a summary of the company's financial results. Larry?

Larry Goldman | Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Seth, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to remind listeners that our detailed financial results are included in our earnings release issued yesterday after market close and in our Form 10-Q that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next several days. These materials are available on the investor relations section of the Lightbridge Corporation website and on the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission website. I encourage everyone to review those documents for a full discussion of our financial statements, risk factors, and related disclosures. As of March 31st, 2026, we held approximately 215.7 million and cash and cash equivalents compared to 201.9 million at December 31st, 2025. This positions us with substantial financial resources sufficient to support our operations for an extended period well beyond the near term. Looking at our cash flows for the first quarter of 2026, we used 4.8 million in operations reflecting the continued investment in our fuel development program and expanded team. On the financing side, we raised $18.6 million in net proceeds through our at-the-market equity offering program. We continue to evaluate funding opportunities to support our long-term fuel development activities. This includes potential strategic partnerships, government grants, and contracts, and as appropriate, additional capital market transactions. Our capital allocation strategy remains disciplined and milestone driven. We direct resources toward the activities that are advanced our fuel toward licensing and commercialization, irradiation testing, post irradiation examination, computational infrastructure, and safety analysis development, while maintaining a strong balance sheet that gives us the flexibility to pursue opportunities as they arise. I will now turn the call over to Leslie Mills, our controller, who will review our P&L for the first quarter. Leslie?

Leslie Mills | Controller

Thank you, Larry. Net loss was $6.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2026, compared to $4.8 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2025. Total R&D expenses amounted to $3.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, compared to $1.7 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, an increase of $1.6 million. This increase is primarily due to a $1 million increase in allocated employee compensation and stock-based compensation. reflecting an increase in new hires, increased employee bonuses, and several new stock-based awards granted after the period end, including performance stock awards, a $0.5 million increase in IT expenses, which include additional computer hardware, software, and operating expenses related to the company's high-performance computer, and a $0.1 million increase in other outside R&D expenses. Total stock-based compensation included in research and development expenses was $.7 million and $.2 million for the three months ended March 31st, 2026 and 2025, respectively. Total G&A expenses were $4.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2026, compared to $3.5 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2025. The increase of $.8 million was primarily due to a $7.7 million increase in stock-based compensation for employees, contractors, and directors, reflecting several new stock-based awards granted after the prior period end, including performance stock awards, and a $.1 million increase in other administrative expenses, including recruiting fees and IT expenses. Total stock-based compensation included in G&A expenses was $1.8 million and $1.1 million for the three months ended March 31st, 2026 and March 31st, 2025, respectively. Total other income was $1.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2026, compared to $0.4 million for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2025. Other income consisted of interest income earned from Treasury bills in our bank savings account, driven by higher average cash balances. Back to you, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Leslie. No questions have been submitted for this call. I want to thank everyone for participating in today's call. We appreciate the continued support of our shareholders and the dedication of our team and partners. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters. In the meantime, you could reach us at ir at ltbridge.com.

Stay safe and well. Goodbye. Didi | Conference Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20260606090222-00'00'

NASDAQ:LTBR Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 6/6/2026 Carmen | Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Lightbridge Corporation Business Update and Fiscal Year 2025 Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Matthew Abinanti, Director of Investor Relations for Lightbridge Corporation.

Matthew Abinanti | Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Carmen, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Our earnings press release was distributed yesterday and is available on the investor relations page of the LifeBridge website at www.ltbridge.com. Joining us on the call today is Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer, along with Andrei Mushikov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations, Scott Holcomb, Vice President of Engineering, and Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer. I want to remind our listeners that any statements on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's competitive position and product and service offerings. During today's call, words such as expect, anticipate, believe, and intend will be used in our discussion of future goals and events. This presentation is based on current expectations and involves certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. These and other risks are set forth in more detail in Lightbridge's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to our first speaker, Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge. Hello, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Matt, and thank you all for joining us to discuss Lightbridge's business update. 2025 was a transformative year for Lightbridge. I believe we'll be remembered as the year the company shifted into a high gear on execution across multiple critical fronts. We achieved major fuel development milestones while strengthening our balance sheets, and advancing key strategic partnerships that position us well to successfully commercialize our advanced nuclear fuel. In a major achievement, we began irradiation testing of enriched uranium zirconium alloy fuel material samples. After years of meticulous design, engineering, and manufacturing to meet the necessary nuclear quality assurance standards, These samples are now being irradiated in the advanced test reactor at Idaho National Laboratory. This test program is a pivotal step in demonstrating LightBridge Fuel's uranium-zirconium alloy material performance, generating data to help us validate key thermo-mechanical properties of our target fuel alloy. In 2025, we signed a memorandum of understanding and made a subsequent joint announcement with Oklo Inc. to explore potential collaboration opportunities, including on used fuel recycling and reprocessing. I'll have more to say about the broader nuclear energy landscape and Lightbridge's position within it later in the call. But first, let me turn it over to Andrei Lushakov, Executive VP for Nuclear Operations, to walk you through the significant technical accomplishments we've achieved in 2025. Andre?

Andrei Mushikov | Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations

Thank you, Seth. As Seth outlined, in 2025, we made measurable progress across several fronts in the development of light-bridge fuel. In November, we reached a major fuel development milestone involving the insertion of enriched uranium zirconium alloy material samples and the start of capsule irradiation testing in the advanced test reactor. These samples are now undergoing irradiation testing to generate critical burn-up dependent data we need to support our computer modeling of fuel behavior and regulatory licensing efforts. Scott will provide additional details on several key accomplishments leading up to this pivotal milestone. In addition to our ongoing irradiation testing project, We have recently significantly expanded our scope of work at Idaho National Laboratory, adding several new projects, including, first, review of our fuel qualification plan, number two, RELAP 5 3D code development work for light bridge fuel, three, Bison code development work for light bridge fuel, and four, post-irradiation examination of light-bridge fuel material coupon samples. Beyond our work at Idaho National Laboratory, over the past several months, we have significantly beefed up our in-house fuel development team across multiple disciplines, including neutronics, thermal hydraulics and safety analysis, fuel performance, mechanical engineering, materials, regulatory licensing, and program management. This expanded in-house team will support the next phase of our fuel development efforts and our planned regulatory engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that we expect to begin this year. Next, in July of last year, we presented three technical papers at the Top Fuel 2025 Conference organized by the American Nuclear Society, demonstrating the growing interest in our fuel technology within the nuclear community. Scott will provide additional details on each of the three papers. Looking ahead, our near-term priorities for the next two to three years include recruitment of additional personnel to support our ongoing and future fuel development activities, continued irradiation testing and post-radiation examination of coupon samples, refinement of phenomena identification and ranking table analysis and fuel qualification plan, start of ongoing engagement with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, further development of the co-extrusion fabrication process for rodlets and full-length rods, site selection and initial deployment planning for the Lightbridge Expandable Fuel Facility, and thermohydraulic modeling and experiments to confirm pressure drop, critical heat flux, and other key parameters. We will provide updates on these activities as results and decisions are finalized. With that, I'll turn the call over to Scott. Scott?

Scott Holcomb | Vice President of Engineering

Thank you, Andre. As Andre mentioned, in November of last year, we began irradiation testing of our fuel material coupon samples in the advanced test reactor, which is a major technical milestone on our critical path. I'll summarize some of the key accomplishments we've achieved in 2025 leading up to that important milestone. In June, we completed the final design review for our radiation experiment at Idaho National Laboratory's Advanced Test Reactor, or ACR. This was a rigorous, multidisciplinary review in which our neutronics, thermohydraulics, and mechanical design parameters were independently approved by subject matter experts at Idaho National Laboratory. Completing this review was a critical step that cleared the path for us to proceed the fabrication and irradiation testing of the samples. Also in June, we announced our use of the fission accelerated steady state test method or FAST method. This approach uses higher enriched uranium in the range of 26 to 30% within the test specimens to accelerate the rate of fission and thereby compress our testing timeline relative to conventional irradiation methods. The FAST method allows us to reach target burnup levels more efficiently, which is essential for generating the performance data needed for NRC licensing in a commercially relevant timeframe. In July, we achieved a major fabrication milestone, the successful production of enriched uranium zirconium alloy coupon samples. These samples were produced using our proprietary co-extrusion process, which is the same process we envision using at commercial scale. By October, capsules containing our uranium zirconium alloy material samples were loaded into the experiment assembly that was subsequently inserted into the ATR test reactor. Then in November, actual irradiation testing commenced in the ATR. We expect the initial batch of partially irradiated samples to be discharged from the ATR in the April-May timeframe, with post-irradiation examination expected to begin later this year. The post-irradiation examination will evaluate structural integrity, dimensional stability, fission gas behavior, thermal conductivity, and overall performance of the fuel samples. As Andre mentioned, LightBridge presented three technical papers at the Top Fuel 2025 conference that was held in Nashville, Tennessee in October 2025. The first paper showed that LightBridge's metallic fuel design remains well within safe temperature limits after a simulated locked rotor accident, strengthening the safety case needed for future regulatory approval. The second paper supported this by comparing Lightbridge fuel material to conventional UO2 in an internationally recognized OECD NEA transient simulation. This showed significantly larger safety margins, translating into greater operational flexibility and improved plant economics for utilities. The third study dealt with modeling of the fabrication process, and it showed that Lightbridge's patented co-extrusion fabrication process could be accurately modeled using genuine experimental data from the Idaho National Laboratory. These results will be used to verify fabrication models, which will in turn be used to optimize aspects of Lightbridge fuel extrusion. Taken together, the three papers contribute to building a compelling case across the key stakeholder groups, regulators, production partners, and utility customers. While significant work remains around fuel performance testing and regulatory qualification, each milestone reduces risk and reinforces confidence in Lightbridge's development path. I will now turn the call over to Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, for a summary of the company's financial results. Larry?

Larry Goldman | Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Scott, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to remind listeners that our detailed financial results are included in our earnings release issued yesterday after market close and in our Form 10-K that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission later today. Those materials are available on the investor relations section of the Lightbridge Corporation website and on the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's website. I encourage everyone to review those documents for a full discussion of our financial statements, risk factors, and related disclosures. As of December 31, 2025, we held approximately $201.9 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $40 million a year earlier. This positions us with substantial financial resources sufficient to support our operations for an extended period well beyond the near term. Looking at our cash flows for fiscal 2025, we used approximately $14.3 million in operations, reflecting the continued investment in our fuel development program and expanded teams. On the financing side, we raised $176 million in net proceeds through our at-the-market equity offering program. We also generated approximately $3.6 million in interest income from our deployment of cash in U.S. Treasury bills and cash in our bank savings account, up from $1.3 million of interest income in the prior year. We continue to evaluate funding opportunities to support our long-term fuel development activities. These include potential strategic partnerships, government grants and contracts, and as appropriate, additional capital market transactions. We believe the current policy environment, including the DOE's Loan Programs Office prioritization of nuclear projects under the recent executive orders could create meaningful opportunities for non-dilutive funding sources as our program advances. Our capital allocation strategy remains disciplined and milestone-driven. We direct resources toward the activities that advance our fuel toward licensing and commercialization, while maintaining a strong balance sheet that gives us the flexibility to pursue opportunities as they arise. Importantly, we continue to maintain a debt-free balance sheet with a clean capital structure that includes no convertible securities or other diluted debt instruments. Back to you, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Larry. I want to close today by putting our accomplishments and our strategy in the context of what is happening in the nuclear energy industry and more broadly, because I believe the macro environment has become increasingly favorable for Lightbridge. In May 2025, President Trump signed four executive orders relating to nuclear energy that represent the most significant shift in U.S. nuclear policy in decades. The executive order on reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base directs the Department of Energy to facilitate power upgrades to existing nuclear reactors. Lightbridge fuel is designed to enable significant power upgrades in existing reactors. The executive orders also direct support for plutonium disposition in reactor fuel, nuclear power for military installations, and critical infrastructure, including data centers, and prioritization of nuclear project within the nuclear projects within the DOE's energy dominance financing office. Each of these policy initiatives creates potential market opportunities for light-bridge fuel. The broader market fundamentals for nuclear energy continue to strengthen. Nuclear power generated approximately 18% of U.S. electricity in 2024, making it the single largest source of clean electricity in the country. There are about 440 operable nuclear power reactors with a combined capacity of just about 400 gigawatts electric, plus 70 reactors currently under construction and more than 120 in advanced planning stages. What stands out the most is how the demand drivers are coming together. The rapid increase in data center capacity to handle artificial intelligence workloads is making the need for flexible baseload electricity even greater. At the same time, national desires for clean energy and concerns about energy security are strengthening the case for nuclear power. The US and other countries have pledged to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. The US has also pledged to quadruple domestic nuclear power generation by 2050. By the middle of the century, nuclear power might make up more than half of the electricity generated in the United States, up from 18% today. Within this landscape, Lightbridge occupies a unique position. Our fuel technology addresses the largest segment of the global nuclear market, existing and new-build pressurized water reactors. Unlike advanced nuclear companies, that are developing innovative new reactors around old nuclear fuel designs. Lightbridge is developing new advanced fuel to be deployed into the existing reactors, providing increased power output and enhanced safety. Our fuel is also designed for use in new light water reactors, including small modular reactor pressurized water reactors. The ability of Lightbridge fuel to generate more electricity from existing nuclear reactors will be one of the most cost-effective ways to increase nuclear capacity. Our collaboration with OKLO in exploring spent fuel recycling aligns directly with the administration's executive orders on plutonium disposition and reinvigorating the nuclear industrial base. In summary, 2025 was a year of important progress for Lightbridge. We commenced irradiation testing We raised capital to fund our fuel development program, and we advanced critical strategic partnerships. The nuclear power industry is experiencing its strongest policy and market support in a generation, and Lightbridge is well positioned to deliver a fuel technology that meets the industry's growing needs for enhanced power output, improved safety, and greater economic efficiency. We look forward to providing further updates as our irradiation testing program progresses and as we advance toward licensing and commercialization. No questions have been submitted for this call. I want to thank everyone for participating in today's call. We appreciate the continued support of our shareholders and the dedication of our team and partners. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters In the meantime, you can reach us at ir.ltbridge.com.

Stay safe and well. Goodbye. Carmen | Operator

That's our conference. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20260606090223-00'00'

NASDAQ:LTBR Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Generated on 6/6/2026 Amy | Conference Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Lightbridge Corporation Business Update and Third Quarter 2025 Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Matthew Abinanti, Director of Investor Relations for Lightbridge Corporation.

Matthew Abinanti | Director of Investor Relations

Thank you, Amy, and thank you all for joining us today. Our earnings release was distributed yesterday and is available on the investor relations page of the Lightbridge website at www.ltbridge.com. Joining us on the call today is Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer, along with Andrei Mushikov, Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations, Scott Holcomb, Vice President of Engineering, Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, and Sherry Holloway, Controller. I want to remind our listeners that any statements on this call that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Today's presentation includes forward-looking statements about the company's competitive position and product and service offerings. During today's call, words such as expect, anticipate, believe and intend will be used in our discussion of future goals and events. This presentation is based on current expectations and involves certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ significantly from such estimates. These and other risks are set forth in more detail in Lightbridge's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lightbridge does not assume any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new developments or otherwise. With that, I would like to turn over the call to our first speaker, Seth Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge. Hello, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Hello, Matt. And thank you all for joining us to discuss LightBridge's business update for the third quarter and first nine months of 2025. The first nine months of this year have been marked by unprecedented operational milestones and an increasingly favorable political and regulatory environment. We reached several significant milestones on our ongoing project at Idaho National Laboratory, including the co-extrusion of an eight foot long rod using depleted uranium zirconium alloy with nuclear-grade zirconium cladding. We completed the final review of the experiment design in June for our upcoming irradiation testing. We successfully fabricated enriched uranium zirconium alloy coupon samples that match the exact fuel material composition we intend for our commercial Lightbridge fuel product. Most recently, we successfully loaded capsules containing these enriched samples into an experimental assembly for irradiation testing in the advanced test reactor. Andre will provide additional details on these milestones. We are also advancing our collaboration with OCLO, building on our January Memorandum of Understanding. In October, we announced plans to jointly evaluate additional co-location opportunities for manufacturing advanced fuels from legacy materials, including potential integration of a light bridge fuel facility within OKO's advanced fuel manufacturing infrastructure. This collaboration is perfectly timed with the executive orders issued by the White House in May that prioritize accelerating U.S. nuclear energy deployment. Our inclusion in the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes represents significant recognition of our expanding market presence and provides increased visibility among institutional investors. This milestone reflects our progress and validates our position as a leader in advanced nuclear fuel technology. I'll now turn the call over to Andrei Mushakov, Executive VP for Nuclear Operations. to begin the review of our fuel development activities. Andre? Thank you, Seth.

Andrei Mushikov | Executive Vice President for Nuclear Operations

As Seth outlined, the first nine months of 2025 have been marked by noticeable technical progress across our fuel development program with the achievement of critical milestones that advance light-bridge fuel toward commercial deployment. In January, we announced a memorandum of understanding with OCLA Encompassing a feasibility study for collocating our commercial-scale fuel fabrication facility with an awkward infrastructure to evaluate potential synergies in capital and operating costs. Assessment of reprocessing and recycling opportunities for spent uranium zirconium fuel, aligning with administration priorities for nuclear efficiencies. And identification of additional mutual interest to accelerate development timelines. In October, we advanced this partnership by announcing plans to jointly evaluate further co-location opportunities for manufacturing advanced fuels from legacy materials. In February, we successfully demonstrated our proprietary core extrusion process at Idaho National Laboratory, fabricating an eight foot long demonstration rod using a depleted uranium zirconium alloy and nuclear grade zirconium cladding. This validation confirmed our methodology and demonstrated its scalability for full-length commercial production. In June, we completed the final review and approval of our radiation testing experiment design for the advanced test reactor, culminating in extensive engineering and safety analyses with independent validation of neutronics, thermal hydraulics, and safety performance to meet rigorous standards. The same months, we fabricated enriched uranium zirconium alloy coupon samples that match the fuel alloy material composition of our future commercial light material products, utilizing 26% to 30% enriched uranium to achieve the required heat generation rates. These enriched samples will undergo irradiation testing using INL's fusion-accelerated state-to-state test, a FAST method. which utilizes highly enriched uranium to accelerate the burn-up accumulation rate, thereby expediting testing timelines. Access to highly enriched uranium for private sector fuel testing is extremely rare and is only available through government facilities such as the Idaho National Laboratory. This capability enables us to achieve burn-up targets more quickly than conventional testing methods, thereby accelerating our data generation timelines. In our last earnings call, We have achieved a pivotal new milestone, the successful completion of loading capsules containing lightweight fuel material samples comprised of enriched uranium zirconium alloy recently manufactured at INL into an experiment assembly. The experiment assembly is now ready for the start of radiation testing in the advanced test reactor, which is expected to begin soon. Key highlights of this achievement include the completion of loading under stringent quality control and process validation protocols at Idaho National Laboratories materials and fuels complex, the precision manufacturing assembly of these coupon samples, which makes the composition intended for our future commercialized fuel products, and the upcoming start of radiation testing of these coupon samples in accordance with our existing cooperative research and development agreement with Idaho National Laboratories. The planned irradiation testing program, combined with post-irradiation examination activities to be outlined in the fourth canon project task statement, will yield critical performance data needed to inform our planned regulatory licensing activities and advance our commercial deployment efforts. In early October, LIVISH presented three peer-reviewed papers at the Top Fuel 2025 conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. highlighting our latest advancements in fuel design and performance modeling. Scott will provide additional details on each of these papers. To support our accelerating development efforts, we are actively expanding our in-house engineering team. In recent months, we have added key personnel to our electronic engineering group, and we will intensify recruitment over the coming months to attract top nuclear engineering talent across additional disciplines. In summary, these milestones represent a significant accomplishment in our fuel development program as we ramp up our efforts in anticipation of regulatory engagement with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the near future. Now I'll ask Scott Holcomb, our Vice President of Engineering, to provide a recap of Top Fuel 2025. Scott?

Scott Holcomb | Vice President of Engineering

Thank you, Andrej. As Andre mentioned, LightBridge presented three peer-reviewed papers at the American Nuclear Society's Top Fuel 2025 Conference, one of the premier gatherings for the global nuclear fuel community. Our papers were met with significant interest, and I would like to briefly summarize their implications for LightBridge and our current development path. Let's first start with the first paper, which addresses the performance of LightBridge fuel material in one of the most challenging accident scenarios. The key takeaway is that we're building a solid safety case that will be critical for regulatory approval and customer adoption. The paper, Conceptual Assessment of Lightbridge Fuel Post-CHF Performance, demonstrate that Lightbridge Fuel's unique metallic design provides exceptional performance during a simulated locked rotor event in a pressurized water reactor. In simple terms, our fuel remains well within safe temperature limits, even when the cooling is drastically reduced. For our future customers, the utilities, this translates directly into enhanced safety, which can lead to significant economic benefits through power upgrades and longer fuel cycles. Our second paper, Lightbridge Fuel Fabrication Modeling and Abacus with Experimental Comparisons, covers manufacturing and confirms our ability to accurately model a key fabrication step. We have successfully modeled our proprietary co-extrusion manufacturing process and validated those simulations against real-world experimental data from our work at Idaho National Laboratory. This can significantly de-risk our future supply chain and provide high confidence in our ability to transition to cost-effective high volume manufacturing, enabling the reliable and economic production of light-rich fuel. Our third paper provides a comparison of our fuel material against the current industry standard. This paper, Development of a Method for Comparison of LightBridge's Advanced Fuel Material against Conventional UO2 Fuel Performance, is a validation of our fuel's superior performance. Using the internationally recognized OECD NEA Three Mile Island Main Steam Line Brake Transient Benchmark, we demonstrated that LightBridge fuel material offers significantly larger safety margins than conventional fuel. As with the first paper, the results in this simulation show that Lightbridge fuel material is expected to enhance safety, which translates to improved operational flexibility and plant economics. These three papers taken together build a compelling case for our fuel's value at every stage by demonstrating its safety case to regulators, its manufacturability to our production partners, and its economic benefits to our future customers. While significant work remains, particularly in fuel performance testing and regulatory qualification, each of these milestones reduces risk and clarifies our path forward. The progress detailed in these papers reinforces our confidence in our technology and our team's ability to achieve our long-term goals. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Scott. The political and industrial landscape has become remarkably supportive of advancing nuclear energy. with several landmark developments underscoring the sector's accelerating momentum. President Trump's nuclear energy executive orders in May represented the most significant policy shift toward nuclear energy in decades. Building on this foundation, the US government recently inked an $80 billion partnership with Westinghouse Electric, Cameco, and Brookfield Asset Management to construct new nuclear reactors signaling a bold commitment to domestic nuclear resurgence. Complementing this, a landmark U.S.-Japan agreement signed on October 28th advances cooperation on next-generation reactors, enhancing energy security and export opportunities, while reducing reliance on dominant foreign suppliers. Additionally, the U.S. Army's announcement of the Janus Program on October 14th establishes a framework for deploying resilient next-generation nuclear power at military installations by 2028, further integrating advanced nuclear fuel technologies into national defense strategies. The directive to prioritize power uprates for existing reactors aligns with Lightbridge Fuel's capabilities. We believe our fuel can enable power uprates of up to 17% in existing reactors, and we are confident that no other nuclear fuel technology can come close to that capability. This direct policy support, coupled with these recent initiatives, validates our value proposition and creates substantial market opportunities. The executive orders also emphasize maximizing nuclear fuel efficiency through recycling and reprocessing. and they establish funding priorities that favor companies with demonstrated technological maturity and near-term deployment potential. We believe LightBridge is well positioned to benefit from these policy initiatives, particularly given our partnership with national universities and the broader industry's surge. The global momentum behind nuclear energy continues to accelerate at an unprecedented pace. Major technology companies are increasingly turning to nuclear power to meet the immense energy demands of data centers and AI infrastructure, as seen in NextEra Energy's recent agreement with Google to restart the Dwayne Arnold Energy Center in Iowa. This agreement will power Google's data centers, creating new market segments beyond traditional utility customers. The commitment by over 20 countries at COP28 to triple nuclear globally by 2050 is being translated into concrete policy actions worldwide today, including a projected surge of 29 gigawatts in new capacity driven by restarts in Japan, increased outputs in France, and the activation of new plants in India, South Korea, and Europe. We're seeing robust support for existing reactor operating license extensions, new large-scale plant deployment, and accelerated development of small modular reactors. This creates multiple pathways for light bridge fuel deployment across various reactor types and applications. We believe our collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory represents a valuable public-private partnership. The recent completion of loading the coupon samples into an experiment assembly coupled with the upcoming irradiation testing program and post irradiation examination activities is expected to generate the critical performance data needed to support our regulatory licensing efforts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We expect this data to contribute to streamline licensing and to assist utilities in their analysis of Lightbridge fuel for commercial deployment. We believe the convergence of supportive government policies, unprecedented industry demand, and our ongoing fuel development progress creates a favorable environment for Lightbridge We are strategically positioned at the forefront of fuel innovation, developing a technology designed to meet the evolving demands of the global energy landscape. Our team remains focused on executing our development plan, advancing our technology through rigorous testing and demonstration, and building the strategic partnerships necessary for successful commercialization. We believe Lightbridge Fuel will be instrumental in maximizing the potential of both the existing nuclear fleet and next-generation water-cooled reactors, contributing meaningfully to global energy security and the clean energy transition. I will now turn the call over to Larry Goldman, Chief Financial Officer, for a summary of the company's financial results. Over to you, Larry.

Larry Goldman | Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Seth, and good afternoon, everyone. We will be filing our Form 10-Q later today with the SEC. Let me begin by underscoring the strength of our balance sheet as of September 30, 2025. We ended the quarter with a strong liquidity position, including cash and cash equivalents of $153.3 million and working capital of approximately $153.1 million. This provides us with a multi-year cash runway to support our ongoing R&D activities as well as our operational needs. Importantly, we continue to maintain a debt-free balance sheet with a clean capital structure that includes no convertible securities or other dilutive debt instruments. Additionally, our interest income from investments in U.S. Treasuries has become a meaningful offset to our operating expenses. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, we generated $2.1 million in interest income, up from $1 million for the same period last year, reflecting the interest earned on our higher average cash balances. This strong financial position provides us with the flexibility to pursue government cost-sharing programs, such as those offered through the Department of Energy, and to explore strategic partnerships with industry players. We are well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities as the nuclear sector continues to expand, driven by the increasing demand for clean energy and federal support for advanced nuclear fuels. Now turning to our cash flow analysis, for the nine months ended September 30th, 2025. Net cash used in operating activities increased to 8.1 million from 5.7 million in the prior period. This change was primarily due to higher spending on R&D, which rose by 2.1 million to $5.3 million. Reflecting our activities at INL, an increased employee compensation related to our R&D activities. DNA expenses also contributed to the increase, up $3.5 million to $9.2 million, driven primarily by higher professional fees, consulting, employee compensation, and stock-based compensation. On the financing side, we generated $121.4 million in net cash, a substantial increase from the 3.7 million we generated last year. This was driven by $120.4 million in net proceeds from the issuance of approximately 9.9 million shares of common stock under our ATM facility, along with 1.2 million of proceeds from stock option exercises, partially offset by $0.2 million of cash spent for tax withholding on vested equity awards. Overall, these activities resulted in a net increase in cash and cash equivalents of $113.3 million for the nine months ended September 30th, 2025. In summary, our balance sheet positions us very well to execute on our strategic priorities and drive long-term value for our shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Sherry Holloway, our controller, who will go over our P&L financial information for the third quarter. Sherry?

Sherry Holloway | Controller

Thank you, Larry. Net loss was $12.4 million for the nine months ended September 30th, 2025, compared to $7.9 million for the nine months ended September 30th, 2024. Total R&D expenses amounted to $5.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $3.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, an increase of $2.1 million. This increase primarily consisted of higher Idaho National Laboratory project labor costs allocated employee compensation, and stock-based compensation expenses, offset by a decrease in expenses related to the Romania Feasibility Study and Centris Energy Feed Study, both studies completed in 2024. Total G&A expenses were $9.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $5.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The increase of $3.5 million was primarily due to increases in professional fees, consulting fees, employee compensation, and stock-based compensation. Total other income was $2.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to one million for the nine months ended September 30th, 2024. Other income consisted of interest income earned from treasury bills and our bank savings account. Back to you, Seth.

Seth Gray | Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Sherry. No questions have been submitted for this call. I want to thank everyone for participating in today's call. We appreciate the continued support of our shareholders and the dedication of our team and partners. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming quarters. In the meantime, you could reach us at ir.ltbridge.com.

Stay safe and well. Goodbye. Amy | Conference Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. jsPDF 3.0.3 D:20260606090224-00'00'