The Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) share price has outperformed its benchmarks over the past month.
In opening trade on Wednesday, the Paladin share price is dropping 0.56% to 89.5 cents. Although it secured a substantial 7.78% gain in yesterday's session.
That helped take the Paladin Energy share price gain to more than 20% in one month.
In broad market moves, the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) has spiked 13% in the past month as well.
What's up with the Paladin share price?
Given the recent calamity in global energy markets, uranium shares have caught a bid as various nations are now looking inward at domestic energy production.
Uranium itself has curled up from recent lows and is now back above its May 2022 levels at US$52/Lbs. This in itself is around some of the highest prices in the past 10 years.
As seen below, this has been a net positive for Paladin, whose share price tracks the price of uranium with striking similarity. Price returns for each are plotted for a year.
Chief to the volatility in uranium has been the looming energy crisis emerging in various nations, Europe in particular. Note that uranium is key in the production of nuclear energy.
"[T]he uncertainty of energy supplies worldwide drove governments to double down in alternative energy sources," in early September, Trading Economics says.
"[M]ajor [nuclear] producer France stated it will restart all of their nuclear reactors by the winter to offset Europe's energy crunch, after corrosion issues and drying rivers that were vital for reactor cooling led to the suspension of various power plants," it added.
With further uncertainty of energy storage supplies heading into winter, it makes sense that alternative sources such as uranium will remain in hot contention for the time being.
What that means for the Paladin share price we can only find out.
Meanwhile, four out of five brokers rate Paladin a buy right now, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. The consensus price target is $1.09.
In the past 12 months, the Paladin share price has clipped a 7% gain.
