Key Takeaways
- Oklo’s quarterly capital expenditure rose from $0.88 million in Q2 2025 to $94.09 million in Q2 2026 as Groves advanced toward criticality and Aurora INL moved into construction.
- Management raised 2026 guidance to $400 million to $500 million of capex and $120 million to $150 million of operating cash use, pointing to a heavier second half.
- Diluted weighted average shares climbed about 26% in a year to 176.22 million, and a new $1 billion at-the-market program lands with the stock down 44.4% year to date.
Oklo Stock Finally Has a Construction Bill to Match Its Story
In September 2025, the Groves site in Texas was undeveloped prairie. By early August 2026, Oklo (OKLO) had built its low-power Groves Isotope Test Reactor there, loaded fuel and taken it critical, less than a year after groundbreaking. CEO Jacob DeWitte called it the fastest greenfield-to-criticality run the company is aware of for a privately funded, privately sited reactor.
The cash flow statement shows what that pace costs. Capital expenditure was $0.88 million in Q2 2025. It reached $26.95 million in Q4 2025, $32.81 million in Q1 2026 and $94.09 million in Q2 2026. Cash used in operations more than doubled over the same year, from $18.47 million to $47.59 million.
Put together, Oklo burned $141.68 million across operations and capex in Q2 2026, compared with $19.35 million a year earlier.
Management expects the curve to steepen. CFO Craig Bealmear raised full-year capex guidance to $400 million to $500 million, from $350 million to $450 million, citing long-lead procurement at Aurora INL, grid interconnection work and “an opportunistic fuel purchase at attractive terms.” With $126.9 million spent in the first half, the new range implies $273.1 million to $373.1 million of capex in the back half alone.
Oklo Shareholders Are Funding the Build
Oklo does not expect its first isotope revenue until early 2027, and Aurora INL targets a 2028 start. Until then, the spending runs on raised capital, with equity sales providing most of the company’s recent funding.
The company raised $1.9 billion through at-the-market sales in the first half of 2026, ending June with $3.0 billion in cash and marketable securities. Diluted weighted average shares rose from 140.09 million in Q2 2025 to 176.22 million in Q2 2026, an increase of about 26%.
That cash pile also flatters the income statement. Through the first half, $44.5 million of net interest and dividend income offset part of a $124.2 million operating loss, trimming the net loss to $81.6 million.
Then came September 11. Oklo filed a new $1 billion at-the-market program with ten sales agents, and shares fell 4% premarket to $38.26. At roughly that price, selling the full amount would take about 26 million shares, around 14% of the 186 million shares outstanding. The stock had already fallen 44.4% this year, and DeWitte reported share sales in early August and again on September 1, both under a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted in March 2025.
The Build Is Real, and So Is the Bill
Groves changed the debate about Oklo. The company has now designed, built, authorized and operated a full-scale isotope test reactor, and the rising capex reflects physical assets rather than slide decks.
Cash is not the pressure point either. Adding the guided second-half operating cash use of $54.5 million to $84.5 million to the implied capex gives a back-half burn of roughly $328 million to $458 million, well covered by $3.0 billion on hand. The new program looks like insurance for the 2028 schedule, not a rescue.
The cost shows up per share. With the stock down 44.4% this year, each dollar raised now takes more shares than it would have in January, and the biggest line item is still unpriced. Bealmear declined to give an all-in cost for Aurora INL, saying Oklo was still narrowing the total project cost with Kiewit and expected to provide a tighter figure through the rest of the year.
The Q3 report is the next test. Capex tracking toward the raised range, a first Aurora INL cost figure and the pace of diluted share growth will show whether Oklo’s execution is compounding faster than its share count.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
