Centrus Energy (LEU) 2026年第三季法說會：70億美元在手訂單，重申財測指引

重點摘要

• Centrus Energy 公布 2026 年第三季營收為 5,550 萬美元，年減 26%。低濃縮鈾 (LEU) 部門營收年減 29% 至 3,180 萬美元，技術解決方案部門營收則下滑 21% 至 2,370 萬美元。
• 該公司第三季毛虧損為 1,060 萬美元，標準化營業虧損為 2,510 萬美元；標準化淨虧損為 1,020 萬美元，稀釋後每股虧損 0.49 美元。
• 兩大部門的在手訂單總額達 70 億美元，合約期延續至 2040 年。其中包括 54 億美元的附帶條件 LEU 與高含量低濃縮鈾 (HALEU) 濃縮銷售承諾，其中 51 億美元已簽署最終協議。
• Centrus 提前於年底目標在橡樹嶺 (Oak Ridge) 完成首台離心機，並開始進行設備製造與出貨。現有的 16 台離心機級聯 (cascade) 目前也正在為商業用途濃縮 HALEU。
• 在完成約 5 億美元的募資後，該季底未受限現金約為 22 億美元。第三季資本支出總計為 1.34 億美元。
• 管理層重申 2026 年財測指引，不計 Westerman 收購案，預期營收為 4.5 億至 5 億美元，資本支出總計為 3.5 億至 5 億美元。

關鍵財務數據

第三季財報包含一筆 4,640 萬美元的非現金收益，係因近期募資相關的認股權證評價負債減少所致。管理層在計算標準化營業利益、淨利及每股盈餘 (EPS) 時排除了這筆收益，因為該收益不屬於公司日常營運業務的一部分。

業務與營運表現

Centrus 提前於年底目標在橡樹嶺完成了首台離心機。管理層表示，該里程碑顯示公司已建立起正常運轉的生產線，並通過了製造流程認證。目前的首要任務包括縮短生產週期、提高產量、減少效率低下的環節，以及擴建基礎設施、擴充人員配置與供應商產能。

該公司表示，已與所有關鍵供應商敲定合約，並完成了派克頓 (Piketon) 項目的首套核准施工文件包。管理層指出，製程改善措施、供應商協調以及與 Palantir 的合作夥伴關係，皆有助於加速執行進度。管理層並表示，這些努力所帶來的多數潛在成本節省與營運價值，將在未來逐步顯現。

LEU 營收雖有下滑，但 SWU (分離功) 營收增加 340 萬美元，主因銷量成長 19% 且平均售價上漲 10%。因平均單位成本上升 28% 且銷量增加 19%，SWU 成本亦同步增加。

技術解決方案部門營收下滑，主因是 HALEU 營運合約營收減少 1,020 萬美元，以及其他合約相關變動所致。

由 16 台離心機組成的示範級聯目前正為商業需求濃縮 HALEU。Centrus 正與美國能源部洽商一項長期協議，以確保該級聯在其整個生命週期內持續運作。管理層將商業 HALEU 視為額外的成長契機，但重申既有反應爐營運商對 LEU 的長期穩定需求，仍是公司的核心業務重點。

在手訂單成長主要受惠於約 24 億美元的 LEU 與 HALEU 濃縮銷售。管理層表示，絕大多數在手訂單均與 LEU 相關，無論是直接供應給 LEU 客戶，或是作為未來 HALEU 承購的原料。與 X-energy、Radiant 及 Antares 簽署的協議均包含預付款條款，旨在支援產能擴建。

本季結束後，Centrus 以約 1.16 億美元收購了 Westerman，其中包括 9,500 萬美元現金及 2,100 萬美元股權。管理層預期該交易將降低專案成本、提升供應鏈效率並拓展多元化營收管道，並表示 Westerman 在第一年即可立即增厚獲利。

管理層財測指引

Centrus 重申其 2026 年財測指引：

• 總營收為 4.5 億至 5 億美元。
• 總資本支出為 3.5 億至 5 億美元。
• 派克頓廠區將增聘超過 175 名員工。
• 橡樹嶺廠區將增聘至少 100 名新員工。

資本支出展望不包含 Westerman 收購案。管理層表示，隨著施工與離心機製造取得進展，資本配置正逐步加速。有關 2027 年支出路徑、Westerman 及更廣泛擴建計畫的更多資訊，預計將在公司 12 月 7 日舉行的投資人日公布。

風險與關注事項

• 受客戶交付時程與產品組合、產品入庫驗收及合約活動等因素影響，季度營收與毛利率可能出現大幅波動。
• 第三季毛利表現受到 SWU 單位成本上升，以及產品入庫驗收與交付時程不匹配的壓力。
• 該擴建計畫需要大幅擴充資本配置、工程建設、離心機生產、人員招聘以及供應商產能。
• 在 54 億美元附帶條件的 LEU 與 HALEU 濃縮銷售承諾中，有 51 億美元已簽署具約束力的最終協議，仍有一部分尚未最終確定。
• 管理層表示，先進反應爐客戶正做出更明確的燃料供應承諾，但尚未觀察到 HALEU 需求時程有顯著加速的跡象。
• 商業 HALEU 的經濟效益取決於具體合約條款（包括由哪一方提供原料），這導致營收與利潤率走勢存在變數。

分析師問答環節重點

國家安全與未受限制產能：管理層證實，規劃中的產能將完全不受限制義務，因此符合某些美國國家安全需求。在美國國家核安全局 (NNSA) 於 2025 年 11 月發布有關潛在單一來源採購合約的意向通知後，Centrus 持續與該局保持接洽。

新型反應爐商機：管理層表示，現有運轉中的反應爐占據了 LEU 在手訂單的很大比重。Centrus 亦有意爭取新型大型反應爐的濃縮需求，但採購時程將取決於開發商何時決定鎖定燃料供應。

離心機製造放量：首台完工的設備象徵生產線正式投入運轉，而非僅是一次性的原型機里程碑。管理層並未透露具體的生產節奏，但表示將在投資人日公布更多細節。

LEU 與 HALEU 產品組合：既有的 LEU 客戶能提供更大的合約規模、更高的確定性，以及對資本投資更有力的支持。若小型模組化反應爐 (SMR) 與微型反應爐的部署規模擴大，HALEU 客戶則能帶來額外的成長空間，同時為 LEU 原料創造增量需求。

Westerman 整合效益：管理層認為收購 Westerman 具備策略綜效，能夠降低供應商風險、節省成本，並為未來的內部有機整合或潛在併購活動提供良好平台。

聯邦政府支持：管理層表示，考量到歷屆政府政策的延續性，預期政治局勢的變化不會削弱美國對本土核燃料循環及濃縮產能的支持。這代表管理層的評估，而非政府的正式指引。

法說會完整逐字稿

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完整財報電話會議逐字稿

管理層陳述

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Centrus Energy Q3 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, November 5, 2026.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Neal Nagarajan, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Neal Nagarajan

Good morning. Welcome, and thank you to all of our callers, as well as those listening to our webcast. Today's call will cover the results for the third quarter 2026, ended September 30.

Today, we have Amir Vexler, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Todd Tinelli, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

This conference call follows our earnings news release issued yesterday. We have filed our report for the third quarter on Form 10-Q earlier today. All of our news releases and SEC filings, including our 10-K, 10-Qs, and 8-Ks, are available on our website. A replay of this call will also be available later this morning on the Centrus website.

I would like to remind everyone that certain information we may discuss on this call today may be considered forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainty, including assumptions about the future performance of Centrus. Our actual results may differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in our forward-looking statements is contained in our filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking information provided today is time-sensitive and accurate only as of today, November 5, 2026, unless otherwise noted. Please note that we report results using non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide investors with additional understanding of the company's financial performance as well as its strategic financial planning, analysis, and period-to-period comparability. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measurements is included in the Financial Results section of our earnings release.

This call is the property of Centrus Energy. Any transcription, redistribution, retransmission, or rebroadcast of the call in any form without the expressed written consent of Centrus is strictly prohibited. Thank you for your participation.

I'll now turn the call over to Amir. Amir?

Amir Vexler

Thank you, Neal, and thank you all for joining us today. I am happy to report that Centrus is continuing to build its reputation on meeting its commitments, growing its credibility, which is leading us to capturing more market share. We made significant progress during the third quarter across our commercial, operational, and financial objectives, capped off by the recent completion of our first centrifuge in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, ahead of our year-end target.

We now proved that U.S. centrifuge manufacturing is a reality. It is a historic milestone for Centrus and the United States. This landmark occasion was the culmination of a number of other achievements by the team, including the strategic acquisition of one of our key suppliers, Westerman. This marks us officially locking in all of the suppliers we deem critical while also completing our first certified for construction packages to additional 2026 operational targets we have achieved ahead of our year-end target.

Furthermore, we grew our enrichment backlog from $3 billion to $5.4 billion, and successfully raised funds in a prudent manner that keeps us well capitalized. Finally, we are excited to announce that we are now using the existing 16 centrifuge cascade to enrich HALEU for the commercial market, making Centrus the first U.S.-owned commercial enricher for the market since our gases diffusion space.

And against this backdrop, we see continued and growing commercial validation across all three of our addressable markets: commercial LEU for the existing commercial nuclear reactor fleet for baseload electricity; a growing national security imperative that continues to increasingly diversify; and HALEU to support the next-generation reactors that will also require LEU feedstock. It is important to distinguish Centrus' unique opportunity set from those of the broader nuclear market. We are positioned to capitalize on all three of these markets.

First and most importantly, our primary focus is on baseload electricity from contracts with investment-grade utilities. There is a significant existing and growing gap in commercial LEU supply and demand. And remember, much of our long-dated enrichment backlog that runs through 2040 is for LEU to service these existing investment-grade utilities.

The second addressable market is for growing national security needs. A recent U.S. GAO report raised the alarm on the nation's entire domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, in particular, the domestic supply chain suitable to meet national security demand. Notably, the report highlighted the government's $37 billion plan to rebuild the unobligated supply chain by 2052.

As announced last week, we have confirmed that our supply chain is fully unobligated. Centrus' proven derisked technology is additionally the only production-ready option for the national security establishment. In this light, we continue to work with the NNSA on its intent to sole source certain uranium enrichment activities from Centrus and stand ready to support this important mission. And then there is the HALEU and advanced reactor market. This market's demand represents an incremental growth opportunity that continues to mature.

We have positioned ourselves to capitalize on this potential market if and when it matures to provide ourselves with further optionality. This optionality includes our flexibility to use planned HALEU capacity for various assays of LEU and LEU+, if needed. And importantly, we are securing prepayments to fund our expansion from the HALEU offtake agreements we are signing. And yet durable LEU demand for investment-grade reactor operators is what we're primarily focused on.

We continue to observe this gap between supply and demand widen, driven by updates, mothballed facilities coming back online and potential new builds, both in the U.S. and abroad. This widening disparity is demonstrated by the continually increasing spot and long-term contract LEU pricing curves that continue their upward trajectory.

Let me now dive into the progress we made against our three objectives. First, turning to our operations. We could not be more excited about last week's event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to celebrate our first centrifuge's completion, marking the beginning of our ramping of scaled centrifuge manufacturing. This important milestone achieved well ahead of our year-end target demonstrates that we have successfully stood up our core manufacturing operations in Oak Ridge, including having qualified our process that are tested and proven. The team is now focusing on decreasing the cycle times and increasing throughput rates, reducing inefficiencies and scaling up our infrastructure alongside our supply chain while hiring and training employees.

Furthermore, we are very excited about our recent acquisition of Westerman, which should drive growth for both organizations through commercial and operational synergies as well as cost savings while derisking our build-out. The acquisition represents a significant milestone for Centrus.

In one strategic move, we have simultaneously derisked our build-out by securing a key supplier and best-in-class manufacturer of centrifuge casing and other critical components; captured cost savings synergies related to Westerman's expansion and tied to our expansion; and derisked our entire business model in the near- and medium-term with an established, high-quality industrial fabricator manufacturer with revenues in nuclear and non-nuclear industries.

Second, turning to commercial backlog. We saw material growth in the third quarter, growing our enrichment backlog to $5.4 billion in contingent LEU and HALEU sales commitments. Our announced agreements with X-energy, Radiant and Antares all included prepayments to support our build-out. Furthermore, our agreement with X-energy includes production of LEU as a feedstock for HALEU, helping us push more volume through our facility. And finally, our offtake agreements with Radiant and Antares further validate and reinforce our first-mover advantage in the microreactor market. They also demonstrate our ability to produce unobligated enriched uranium that can also support U.S. national security applications, including defense and space missions.

And finally, on the third pillar, financial progress, Centrus secured an additional $500 million with the potential addition of $2 billion in the future. To this end, Centrus ended the quarter with roughly $2.2 billion of unrestricted cash on our balance sheet. Todd will discuss this in more detail shortly.

Now moving on to guidance. We are reaffirming our 2026 annual guidance for total company revenue of $450 million to $500 million as well as our annual capital spend of $350 million to $500 million. We are similarly reaffirming our 2026 annual guidance for Piketon workforce additions to over 175 new hires as well as our target of new employees at Oak Ridge to at least 100.

With us now having finalized contracts with 100% of the partners we deem critical, we were able to complete and begin shipping our first centrifuge. Our acquisition of Westerman represents another important step in further strengthening our supply chain. We have simultaneously completed our first certified for construction package for Piketon. We will discuss these in more depth at our upcoming Investor Day this coming December.

With that, I will turn the call over to Todd, and return with some final thoughts and comments. Todd?

Todd Tinelli

Thank you, Amir, and good morning to everyone on today's call. Ahead of walking through our results, I want to first quickly discuss the impact of our recent capital raise. In the third quarter, we recognized a $46.4 million book gain due to a decrease in the liability associated with the valuation of the warrants from our recent capital raise. This was a noncash impact on our books, but led to a $46.4 million positive impact to the quarter's operating income, net income, and earnings per share that is not part of our due course of business. As such, throughout my comments, the operating income, net income and earnings per share, excluding the $46.4 million gain, will be referred to as normalized as well as those same adjusted figures that account for growth costs.

Our normalized results were in line with our internal projections and reflected the typical quarter-over-quarter shift in contractual mix that can transpire based on customer orders and deliveries. Our strong financial execution continues to support the execution of our multibillion-dollar domestic enrichment expansion. As noted on previous calls, I will be presenting financials on a quarterly and trailing 12-month basis.

Total revenue for the third quarter was $55.5 million, a decrease of $19.4 million or 26% versus the same period last year. TTM revenue was $454.5 million, ahead of fiscal 2025 revenue. The LEU segment generated $31.8 million in revenue in the third quarter, a 29% decrease versus the same period last year. SWU revenue in the quarter increased by $3.4 million due to a 19% increase in volume of SWU sold and a 10% increase in the average price of SWU sold. The Technical Solutions segment revenue was $23.7 million in the third quarter, a $6.4 million or 21% decrease over the same period last year, due primarily to a $10.2 million decrease in revenue generated by the HALEU operations contract as well as a change related to other contracts.

Centrus generated a loss of $10.6 million and a gross profit of $105.8 million for the third quarter and TTM, respectively, compared to a gross loss of $4.3 million in Q3 2025.

The LEU segment's third quarter cost of sales was $38.7 million, a decrease of $13.9 million or 26% over the previous year's period, driven by a decrease in the volume of uranium sold. SWU costs increased as a result of a 28% increase in the average unit cost of SWU sold and a 19% increase in the volume of SWU sold. Technical Solutions cost of sales of $27.4 million increased $0.8 million or 3% from Q3 2025, primarily attributable to an increase in costs related to customer contracts, partially offset by a $1.7 million decrease in costs incurred under the HALEU operation contract.

Normalized operating loss for the third quarter was $25.1 million compared to a loss of $16.6 million in the same period last year. The company generated normalized net loss of $10.2 million and $9.4 million of adjusted net loss in the third quarter compared to normalized net income of $3.9 million and adjusted net income of $5.2 million, respectively, in Q3 2025. The change in third quarter normalized net loss was primarily attributed to a decrease in income tax benefit of $9 million, an increase in gross loss of $6.3 million and an increase in advanced technology costs of $3 million. This change in normalized net loss was partially offset by an increase of $4 million in investment income. On a fully diluted basis, this equates to third quarter 2026 normalized loss per share of $0.49 and adjusted loss per share of $0.46, respectively, compared to $0.19 and $0.25, respectively, in Q3 2025.

On a trailing 12-month basis, Centrus generated normalized net income of $34.4 million and adjusted net income of $77.3 million, respectively. Third quarter adjusted net income excludes $2.4 million of gross expenses and a $1.3 million benefit to our SG&A related to our stock compensation, which combined and tax adjusted equates to $800,000. Please refer to our Financial Results section of our earnings release issued yesterday for a reconciliation of net income, normalized net income and adjusted net income. Going forward, we continue to expect to have certain level of these types of growth expenses to flow through our income statement as we continue to build out.

Centrus' backlog across both segments grew to $7 billion at the end of the third quarter and extends out to 2040. The growth was driven by an approximate $2.4 billion in LEU and HALEU enrichment sales in the LEU segment. Of the approximate $5.4 billion in contingent LEU and HALEU sales commitments, $5.1 billion are under definitive agreements.

Turning to our capital spend, which are CapEx and non-CapEx attributed to costs and investments such as prepayments to suppliers or growth costs. In the third quarter, we had total capital spend of $134 million with $131.6 million coming from CapEx and the remainder coming from non-CapEx growth costs. We finished the third quarter with approximately $2.2 billion in unrestricted cash without using our ATM.

In September, we completed an approximately $500 million underwritten public offering of Class A common stock and prefunded warrants together with accompanying common warrants. This important transaction allowed us to access near-term capital at a premium while setting the company up for significant future capital in four future tranches with progressively higher excess prices only if our share price appreciates and we continue to execute against our milestones. If exercised in full, the warrants could provide approximately $2 billion of additional gross proceeds with exercise prices ranging from approximately $2.27 to $3.63 per share. We believe this structure reflects investor confidence in the long-term value of Centrus while providing additional financial flexibility.

We continue to feel confident in our existing cash balance, and we believe we are sufficiently funded to meet our near-term capital requirements.

Subsequent to quarter-end, we acquired Westerman for approximately $116 million, funded through a combination of cash on hand and equity, including $95 million in cash and $21 million in equity. We expect the acquisition to lower project costs for Centrus and drive greater efficiencies across our supply chain.

Turning to our outlook for the remainder of 2026. As Amir noted, we are reaffirming our annual guidance for revenue of $450 million to $500 million and total capital spend of $350 million to $500 million. The target excludes the Westerman acquisition. We look forward to having a more fulsome conversation about Westerman build-out at our upcoming December Investor Day. We are simultaneously reaffirming our operational guidance for the workforce additions in Piketon and Oak Ridge.

With that, I will turn the call back to Amir. Amir?

Amir Vexler

Thank you, Todd. I am proud of the progress we made during the third quarter across our commercial, operational, and financials broadly. We have made significant progress in and are continuing to derisk our build-out. We are now beginning to manufacture and ship centrifuges from our Oak Ridge facility. We have locked in 100% of the suppliers we deem critical and have completed our first CFC package. We have significantly grown our commercial enrichment backlog. We are sitting on a healthy cash balance that empowers our buildup. We have furthermore bolstered and derisked our business profile, especially in near-term revenues and profitability with our recent Westerman transaction. And all of our progress is happening as our addressable market continues to grow, a strong backdrop that supports our expansion.

We are also excited to host our upcoming Investor Day on December 7, at our American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. We look forward to sharing more about our strategy and build-out at that event.

With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator?

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Mark Shooter from William Blair.

分析師問答

Mark Shooter

Amir, I just had a question on the first centrifuge. So the first centrifuge production, that's a big milestone for the company and also national security. But a key point for us on that front was that these new centrifuges are unobligated. And I was hoping you could give us some update on the engagement with the NNSA and speaking to the funding be outlined from the GAO as well.

Amir Vexler

Yes. Well, good morning Mark, thank you for that good question. I'll remind the listeners and yourself that one of the great values that we bring to the market and the technology that we bring to the market is the capability to have unobligated production that can serve national security needs. Just as a reminder as well in form of background, in November of 2025, the NNSA published a notice-of-intent to issue Centrus, a sole-source contract for the production of certain low enriched uranium that's suitable for use in support of the national security mission. So that is sort of the backdrop to our needs and our drive to have unobligated production.

And specifically to your question, our production will be unobligated. And we have been working to configure the supply chain, working with all our suppliers to make sure that that is going to be implemented.

I hope I answered the question, Mark.

Mark Shooter

Yes, thank you, Amir. I thought they cut me off for the next question. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Mark Bianchi from TD Cowen.

Esteban Mario Albarracin

This is Esteban Albarracin on for Mark Bianchi. My question is really around the current LEU backlog. I know you mentioned excluding the LEU to HALEU contract, is that all tied to the existing reactor fleet? I ask because I'm trying to understand the opportunity for new light water reactors there and there's 10 new large reactors moving through the DOE EDF loan program. So I'm trying to think how should we think about the timing of potential LEU backlog opportunities for Centrus there if enrichment RFPs could follow relatively soon for new reactors or would utilities likely weigh closer to a reactor startup?

Amir Vexler

Good morning. Let me just talk maybe in general, and then we'll address specifically the question about the new build. We very much are excited and are obviously prioritizing firm and -- firm commitments from customers, and the ones for LEU are typically the ones that are able to make those in large numbers. So a good size -- a large part of our backlog is LEU for operating reactors here in the United States and abroad as well.

Specifically, to the question of how to think about the new reactors that are yet to be built, it really is a question to them as to at what point they would feel they would need to go out and secure fuel supply. I think based on what we're seeing the advanced reactors do, they do prioritize fuel supply, and they put that right at the front to ensure that they derisk their projects. I would expect that the new builds, whether it's going to be AP1000s or whatever other large reactor design is going to be, there's going to be tremendous need for enrichment supply as well.

I would tend to think that in today's markets and some of the availability and some of the long cycles around capacity expansion of enrichment, I would absolutely encourage them to put that at the very front of their planning cycle as they plan to expand. And so we absolutely intend to compete for it, and we intend to make that a big part of our business as well.

Operator

Your next question comes from Joseph Osha from Guggenheim Securities.

Peyton Durand

This is Peyton Durand on for Joe Osha this morning. I guess could you just provide a little bit more color on what enabled the accelerated time line for the first completed centrifuge? And do you see this time line as sort of replicable for future units? And I guess the third part, what learnings are you going to take from this first one to apply to nth of kind?

Amir Vexler

Okay. Thank you for the question. I think I've been very consistent on all of our calls in trying to explain and emphasize to the investors how critically important it is for us to gain market credibility, to be able to meet and exceed our commitments. We have an incentive to -- from the market, we have an incentive to beat the timelines that we have advertised. And so organizationally, we are creating the same incentives and the same expectations of exceeding, meeting the timelines. But more specifically, what enabled is we do run process improvement teams in parallel. I mean, one example that I gave before, which I'm sure we'll get to talk about at some point from -- I'm sure a question will come up about our partnership with Palantir and some of the work we're doing there.

So we really are attacking this on multiple fronts, and we're doing a lot of progress with our supply chain and all of this with the intent of expediting, lowering cost, derisking. Westerman is another example of derisking and building efficiencies into our supply chain. And I'm sure there will be a question on that as well at some point.

So the lessons learned here is that when you align the goals in the organization, provide the tools, expectations and make a proper investment in rapid improvements, it pays off, and we certainly intend to implement those learnings. And these are coincidentally to your second part of your question. These really are the learnings -- and we certainly are looking forward to providing a more wholesome update details and examples at our Investor Day that I've announced earlier. And hopefully, that answers the question.

Operator

Your next question comes from Nate Pendleton from Texas Capital.

Nathaniel Pendleton

Congrats on the continued progress. Amir, I wanted to go back to the strong macro picture that you alluded to in your prepared remarks. With the strong SWU pricing relative to uranium, as we look ahead, how are customers changing tails of say, if at all? And how much Western SWU demand could be met with overfeeding as we look out in the future?

Amir Vexler

Great question. So you're asking an enrichment person about a question that involves a lot more consideration than just enrichment. Obviously, uranium pricing fits into this very strongly. Each customer and supplier approached this question individually on a contract-by-contract basis. In the past, obviously, when SWU prices were cheap, this goes back a few years ago, we've seen a different behavior around tails assay. We've seen a different behavior around underfeeding versus overfeeding. Obviously, that dynamic has changed now that SWU prices have gone up considerably. And I would expect that this continues to be just an optimization for each contract, case by case, as to how they view their uranium supply pricing versus how they want to optimize it versus enrichment.

I will add as a final thought that I would tend to give the upper hand here to enrichment. By that, I mean, I think ultimately, you would see the seesaw pendulum swing towards sort of erring on the side of favoring enrichment capacity is just because I don't see that there is that much ability to expand capacity as quickly as the market grows. I mean, we're seeing that disparity now, and I think it will take a while before that disparity sort of settles. So I think you will see that reflected in the tails and in the overfeeding versus underfeeding. I hope that answers the question.

Operator

Your next question comes from Bill Peterson from JPMorgan.

William Peterson

Nice job on the quarterly execution. I wanted to ask a follow-up on a prior question on the backlog. So I guess we think about your commercial strategy, is there a preferred mix of, I guess, existing utilities, say LEU versus newer companies, SMR? And I guess with the shape of the backlog, you talked about backlog going up to 2040. Is that more front-loaded or back-loaded? I'm just trying to get a sense of what that could mean for implication on CapEx as you, I guess, continue to grow your backlog.

Amir Vexler

Yes. Thank you for that question. I'll start off by just saying that it would be -- we typically do not break down and separate the amounts. That said, the vast majority of our backlog is LEU-- it's either for LEU customers or its feedstock for future HALEU offtake.

Now you asked a pretty interesting question as to who do we favor and who do we like more. That would be a dangerous answer to give. I'll give you the pros and cons. And obviously, we want both and we pursue both. The established LEU customers provide a lot of certainty. They provide a lot of volume. They provide very, very solid terms to be able to offtake. And that is precisely what we need when we are expanding facilities -- expanding our facilities and investing capital. However, I do not want to, in any way, underestimate the HALEU customers who just in the last 6 months, a year have become a lot more committed to the supply chain, and we're seeing them being able to make sort of take-or-pay type contracts and legally binding contracts.

They provide a huge promise to a company like ours. If there is a large expansion of any of these SMRs or microreactors, if there is a large build-out, that's going to create a substantial need for HALEU and an exponential need for LEU. And so we honestly are trying to keep our finger on both triggers. And I will just remind the investors and listeners as well that the third leg of the stool here is we are pressing really hard on national security. We position ourselves to be able to serve the needs when called upon for national security. And I hope that, that gives you enough detail that I answered the question, Bill.

Operator

Your next question comes from Nick Amicucci from Evercore ISI.

Nicholas Amicucci

Well, you opened the door, so I'll allow you to either walk through it or close it on me. Just wanted to kind of dig into the $300 million of Palantir potential savings. And basically how much represents validated procurement or engineering changes versus the opportunities that are still under evaluation? And should we think of any of those as an accelerant to capacity delivery?

Amir Vexler

Yes. Good question, Nick. As previously communicated, a day 1 focus for us is to really maximize cost savings while we really are bringing in lead times and deployment times for our expansion. We want to use state-of-the-art technology tools, capability, individuals -- and hence, the reason for the partnership. We did announce amount of savings that we put out there, and then you quoted $300 million. A lot of it has been a strong contributor to our capability to deliver ahead of schedule.

From where I sit, and I'm fairly connected to the project, I think that most of the opportunities and most of the potential savings and value we're going to derive is still ahead of us, so much so that we are in active mode of learning as to what we achieved and how we potentially accelerate and expand that. So stay tuned for more announcements. Stay tuned for more information.

And as one of the answers that I gave earlier, we do intend to have a much more wholesome conversation on this in our Investor Day. This really is the purpose for such conversations. We'd love to address it there, and we're preparing to do that. And I will also add as a last statement that the first centrifuge is really a great example of the value creation-based agreement and partnership that we have with companies like Palantir. And I think the very first milestone that we set out there, we've been able to capitalize on it, and we're looking to do that eventually for all the other milestones that we're facing.

Operator

Your next question comes from Jon Windham from UBS.

David Choe

This is David on for Jon Windham. Just wanted to touch base on -- can you give us an indication or kind of a status update on where you are in negotiations with the DOE and the potential to convert your demonstration cascade to commercial offtake and the potential to bring some of those volumes online a little bit quicker to market.

Amir Vexler

Yes. So we are in discussions. Again, as I typically answer my questions, I'll give a little bit of backdrop and sort of the context for the answer just for the benefit of all the other listeners.

We've embarked on a demonstration program with the DOE. They've been a great supporter. We worked collaboratively really well to demonstrate our technology now for 3 years. It's been hugely successful, and it provided the impetus and the capability to expand that into commercial operations.

The natural next step for the -- the natural next step for the 16 centrifuge demo cascade is to place that into commercial operations. The cascade is producing. We are in discussions with the Department of Energy about how to amend and how to make a more wholesome agreement where this continues to serve the market and some of the reactors that are getting into the market now and would require some of that material.

Todd Tinelli

Yes. To Amir's point, we -- the centrifuge is currently spinning for commercial use. And as part of the larger agreement, it's our ambitions and the DOE's ambition to keep those centrifuges spinning throughout their life cycle, and we are currently working that in through our long-term arrangement with the DOE. We have -- they have given us rights to use those commercial -- those centrifuges for commercial use currently, and that's what they're using. So currently, we are enriching for HALEU for commercial needs at this moment.

Operator

Your next question comes from Eric Stine from Craig-Hallum.

Unknown Analyst

This is Luke on for Eric. So as it relates to your supply chain strategy, should we expect to see vulnerable areas addressed through vertical integration like with Westerman? Or was that more of a sort of a one-off event from a strategic perspective?

Amir Vexler

The -- I think your question specifically asks about vulnerable. I would say that the Westerman deal was a whole lot about an opportunity to derisk our supply chain, to derisk the build-out and to derisk the business model as well as to be able to capitalize on a lot of efficiencies that we see out there. So all in all, we're very satisfied with it. But I mean, there's other tools in our arsenal over there that we're deploying in setting up a supply chain that is predictable, capable, and produces high-quality product. I mean, these things are done every day by our team, are not necessarily advertised. They're not necessarily how they're communicated to the broader community. But this is the kind of stuff that we do every day that goes unadvertised.

You use the word vulnerability. This is going to be a major project. We have a lot of suppliers. Each supplier has their own strengths and weaknesses. We have built -- we are building and we've built resilience in our supply chain where possible. We're using quality oversight. We're using partnership with different suppliers. So we're not taking anything off the table. I think what you saw with Westerman is an example where you had really a perfect fit of all these factors come together, and there was no coincidence that this deal was made.

Todd Tinelli

Yes. I will just comment. We view Westerman as a world-class operation, especially in the nuclear space, and they reach over into other industries. This allows diversity to Centrus' income stream and revenue. It's immediately accretive in year 1. And it really serves as a platform for us to expand on supply chain integration, take out some of those vulnerabilities if we see. They present themselves through either organic growth, now through Westerman ,or through additional M&A activities. We are extremely excited about this.

I will just comment that on our investor day, we plan on providing a significant more information around the acquisition. And we hope that all of those on the call today are able to dial in or join us, and where we can provide a long-term view of our vision for Westerman and our supply chain. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Rob Brown from Lake Street Capital.

Robert Brown

Just wanted to kind of follow-up on the centrifuge manufacturing ramp with the first one now done. How do you -- I know you can't give exact numbers, but how do you sort of see that ramp happening? Is it over the next year? Is it sort of ramp quickly? Or just a sense of how that develops?

Amir Vexler

Yes. Good morning, Rob. Could you -- just to make sure I answer your question and I understand it. When you say the ramp, you're talking about the cadence of the centrifuges as offline? Or what specifically were you thinking of?

Robert Brown

Yes. I think you mentioned focusing on ramping up the level of production of centrifuges -- just for the color on how that happens.

Amir Vexler

Yes. So just as a general backdrop again, when we announced the first centrifuge, obviously, the big announcement there is not in the centrifuge itself, but the announcement is that now we have a functioning, operating production line that produces centrifuges, and we really are celebrating the first off that come off of this line. So there is a certain cadence, rhythm that we are currently engaged in and we're producing.

At this point, we're probably going to reserve a lot of that detail for our investor day where we have a lot more wholesome conversation on this and presentation, but do expect to see more information announcement come out on that. The point is that we have an operating manufacturing line that is in current production.

Operator

Your next question comes from Lawson Winder from Bank of America Securities.

Lawson Winder

Amir and Todd, I appreciate today's update. And I look forward to the investor day very much. The thing I'd like to kind of better understand is commercial HALEU. So you've disclosed that the existing 16 cascades are now enriching HALEU for the commercial market. Can you just confirm whether that's against the Oklo, X-energy, Radiant or Antares contracts? Or is there another customer? And then when we think about revenue and economics from that, I mean, when do you expect first commercial HALEU revenue to start showing up in the P&L? And then how should we think about the margins versus the DOE HALEU contracts? I mean, are these going to be similar margins? Or could commercial HALEU possibly have significant superior economics?

Amir Vexler

Yes. So a lot of questions there, and thank you for that, Lawson. Let me try to jot them down. I'll try to answer all of them. The -- your first question around the commercial HALEU and who specifically it goes to. The answer that I'll have for you is it will be supplied to the commercial market that requires HALEU. And -- I mean, everybody read our announcement. There's no more detail further to that, but we're absolutely looking forward to supporting the start-up of the commercial market of HALEU. I mean, these new reactors are becoming real. They require fuel, and we are the first ones out there that are going to be fueling them. And having the only HALEU cascade in the Western world that's able to supply them right now gives us a huge advantage, and we're looking forward to providing that support.

Now to your -- I think the next question you had was comparing contrasting margins on these contracts versus the DOE. Todd will give you the word on that.

Todd Tinelli

Yes. Look, there's two different types of contracts that are present. The DOE, obviously, with the demo project that allowed us to prove our capability while providing enrichment that can potentially be used for the start-ups of many of these SMRs and microreactors.

On the commercial, there's a lot more that goes -- that's involved around the commercial contract terms. Obviously, we don't not get into those types of economics, but there's various different items and every contract is different as to who provides the fee, whether it's LEU or we are providing it. So the overall price there can have some variability. And -- but we are obviously confident in their ability in the HALEU market to provide significant upside to the company and optionality.

So we're rooting for all of the SMRs and advanced reactors. And as Amir said, we're extremely excited to be the only one enriching commercially HALEU fuel right now and are standby to meet all of our customer needs.

Operator

Your next question comes from Joseph Reagor from ROTH Capital Partners.

Joseph Reagor

I guess for me, on the Westerman acquisition, can you give us any additional color on what the margins look like there at the gross margin level? And what, if any, seasonality there is to their business?

Todd Tinelli

Yes. Yes, we are really excited, as I said, about the Westerman. I think I will put a pause on one of your comments, but we believe there's significant upside to the Centrus revenue stream.

This industry has very strong margins in the supply chain. It does two things. One is it as one of our larger suppliers, it allows us to derisk our supply chain and have cost savings while diversifying our revenue base. Westerman also is involved in other high-growth industries and also oil and gas. The margins vary in each one of those segments. The high-growth segment is obviously in high demand and the margin's a little bit higher. Nuclear has strong margin profile. And the last is the oil and gas has been a mainstream for the Westerman throughout their operations. And we will provide more information on our investment day, including breakdowns of their margin profile in each segment and their contribution of revenue to Centrus in the current year and over the next future years. I hope that helps.

Amir Vexler

Joe, I want to add a couple of other things here since we're talking about Westerman. So I made a comment to this earlier that this was really no coincidence. This is -- this was not one of those things, hey, we want to buy somebody. Let's look at a list of 100 people. No, this was not the case. So Westerman, folks in our industry -- know that Westerman is one of the strong fabrication pillars that has a nuclear grade fabrication capability. They're a high-precision fabricators. They're very versatile, as Todd mentioned. This is a great fit. And not only are we looking at, as I said, a lot of the derisking of the supply chain build-out and the business model that we've communicated, but we also have a very strong eye to the future potential and what other things could be done to support our build-out in the business as a whole.

So as Todd said, I'll echo again, we're very excited about the things that are yet to come. And hopefully, we'll have a much broader conversation December 7.

Operator

Your next question comes from Jeff Brand from Northland Capital Markets.

Jeffrey Grampp

I had a question on the capital deployed kind of cadence here. Hoping to get any additional clarity you guys can provide in terms of kind of Q4 spending. Obviously, it could be a wide range of outcomes and still hit the full year guide. So just kind of wondering how we should think about spending into Q4 and any early thoughts on spending trajectory into '27. Thanks.

Todd Tinelli

Thanks for the question, Jeff and good morning. So we have maintained our capital spend guidance. So obviously, you can kind of back into our fourth quarter spend. What I will say is we are now crossing the threshold into deploying capital at a more accelerated rate. We have started our first construction package. As you can see, we have our first centrifuge rolling off the line. We have secured our supply chain and have orders on -- for all of our materials currently placed, and we're moving forward with our build-out.

All of these numbers are ex-Westerman. I just want to make that point. So often in GAAP and other areas, an acquisition will be considered CapEx and growth CapEx. But to maintain status quo and quarter-over-quarter continuity, we've excluded Westerman from that. Now to be said, we will look to provide more guidance in our Investment Day on December 7.

As for 2027, what I said earlier this year and on previous calls, we're going to get to a point where we start to see some real cadence of capital deployed. And we're now in that ramp-up. We only started our Fluor contract midyear as we signed the contract. And so now as that's beginning to come to fruition and we are -- have boots on the ground, our spend increases in addition to the manufacturing side. So stay tuned. We'll provide more guidance as for 2027. Obviously, we will be looking to give a more wholesome number in future discussions.

Operator

Your next question comes from Jayad from Stifel.

Unknown Analyst

As we head into the next Congress, do you guys see any change in the outlook for federal support for domestic enrichment? Or is that support largely insulated from the political cycle?

Amir Vexler

Yes. Good apropos type question. I will tell you with firm belief that this ought to not change the momentum of our industry, this ought not to change the momentum of the investment, the interest and the focus that -- and the support that the U.S. government provides to the fuel cycle and specifically to enrichment. And the reason why I'm saying this is we have now been through this cycle of two administrations at least during my time, and I have not seen a change in support, focus or dedication. I've seen it increase. I mean, some of the conversations around clean energy needing to increase -- I mean, all of these things don't go away. They're still there. The conversations around reindustrialization, providing jobs, it becomes even more important now. So the answer to your question is I absolutely don't see any change. I see a necessity for even stronger support and focus, and we're looking forward to working with the new Congress on this as well.

Operator

Your next question comes from Sean Milligan from Needham & Company.

Drew Scott

This is Drew Scott on for Sean. With the first centrifuge ahead of schedule and backlog growth tracking well, are you seeing HALEU demand pull forward ahead of expectations at all? Or are you even enough to say you consider pulling forward capacity even further?

Amir Vexler

I'm sorry, I did not hear the last part of the question. Could you please repeat the question again?

Drew Scott

Yes. So are you seeing HALEU demand pulling forward kind of ahead of your expectations? And would that even make you pull capacity forward ahead kind of what you originally planned?

Amir Vexler

Yes. Thank you for that. I'm not seeing as much of pulling of demand ahead by the reactor developers. What we are seeing, and I mentioned it earlier, is we're seeing a lot stronger commitments and a lot more aggressive focus on actually locking in agreements and derisking the fuel supply part of the equation when it comes to their build-out. So no, there is really no changes in terms of the cadence that we're planning in terms of rolling out our capacity. We obviously, as I'll repeat it again, are looking for every opportunity that we have in shortening lead times and creating efficiencies, and we will execute on that. But from the customer side, we're not seeing that yet.

Operator

Your next question comes from Sameer Joshi from H.C. Wainwright.

Sameer Joshi

My quick question is on the 4Q outlook. Basically, if you look at the annual outlook, it looks like 4Q will be $142 million to $192 million revenues. Like are there any takes and puts on this? And then part 2 of that question is the SWU pricing versus SWU cost management, how are you looking at it? Should we expect another sort of negative gross margin quarter -- this quarter?

Todd Tinelli

Thank you for your question and good morning. Yes, as you expected, we maintained our guidance. We are optimistic, and we feel, obviously, that the fourth quarter provides a full year view of our strong results. As we've always noted that we see significant seasonality, including when we actually have sales that come -- that are being delivered, but also receive our shipments. That quarter-over-quarter mix provides some fluctuation in our gross margin profile. That's why we've been discussing this on a TTM basis to provide a more normalized view. The negative gross margin and everything, there's a lot of timing around when we receive product and mismatch of when we deliver product. So as such, we are very confident in our full year view. That's why we have maintained our guidance. We believe that the revenue and guidance that we have provided is also ex any Westerman upside. So I just want to make that note. And we will be providing updated guidance on our December 7 Investor Day.

Operator

Your last question comes from Ryan Pfingst from B. Riley Securities.

Ryan Pfingst

Maybe just a quick one on the backlog increase here. Was that fully from the 3 recently announced advanced reactor customers? Or were there other undisclosed customers in there?

Amir Vexler

Yes. That's not something that we disclose, but I can say that this was a mix of both LEU and HALEU. Unfortunately, I can't give the details. We don't provide the breakdown and separate the amount. The vast majority of the backlog is LEU, either for LEU customers or as feedstock for our future HALEU off takers. I hope that answers the question, Ryan.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we have no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Neal Nagarajan, Senior Vice President. Please go ahead.

Neal Nagarajan

Thank you, operator, and thank you to everybody who listened on today's call. We're very excited about our upcoming investor day on December 7 at Piketon, Ohio, and we look forward to providing the market with more details at that time. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for today. We thank you very much for your participation, and you may now disconnect. Have a great day, everyone.