The Simple Reason I Won't Buy Cameco Corporation Stock

Shares of leading uranium miner Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) hit rock bottom at the end of October following the announcement of its third-quarter 2017 earnings. The new 52-week low was driven by what investors have become accustomed to for the last five years: weakness in the uranium market. Prices have continued to slide in 2017, which has imperiled operations at mines around the world.

Indeed, in early November Cameco announced that it was suspending operations at its McArthur River mine and Key Lake milling facilities. That news was coupled with a 20% reduction in quarterly dividend distributions from $0.10 per share to $0.08 per share (a move that was long overdue, in my opinion). Investors certainly saw the cost-cutting measures as a step in the right direction, especially with regards to rebalancing supply and demand in the uranium market, and sent shares soaring.

The rally received another injection of enthusiasm less than a month later when Kazakhstan announced that its state-owned uranium mining company, Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium miner, would slash annual output 20% from 2018 to 2022.

Source: Fool.com