10 Micro-, Small-Cap Companies Lead Monday’s Charge

The stock market ended the first trading day of the week in the negative territory, with all major indices recording hefty losses, as investors continued to digest the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and his criticism of the Federal Reserve.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell the hardest among the major indices, down 2.55 percent, followed by the Dow Jones at 2.48 percent, and the S&P 500 at 2.36 percent.

Meanwhile, 10 companies bucked a broader market bloodbath, recording strong gains during the day. In this article, we have listed the 10 top-performing companies, dominated by micro- to small-cap stocks, and detailed the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with less than $1 billion in market capitalization.

A trader cheers his market gains. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

10. Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR)

Exicure Inc. snapped a three-day losing streak on Monday, surging 27.68 percent to close at $11.30 apiece as investors resorted to bargain-hunting to take advantage of its cheap valuations.

Additionally, investors digested news that XCUR, through its subsidiary, GPCR Therapeutics USA, was nearing completion of the phase 2 study of GPC-100 in Multiple Myeloma. This followed the successful dosing of the 19th patient to evaluate the efficacy of GPC-100 (burixafor) in mobilizing stem cells in multiple myeloma (MM) patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplant.

“Preliminary results are encouraging, with 100 percent of patients achieving the primary endpoint of successful CD34+ stem cell mobilization, including patients previously treated with daratumumab,” XCUR said.

The trial is expected to finish patient recruitment by the end of the month.

XCUR has historically been an early-stage biotechnology company focused on developing nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid against validated targets. Following its restructuring and suspension of clinical and development activities, the company said it is now exploring strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value.

9. Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN)

Evogene Ltd. crawled back to the $1 territory on Monday, jumping 30.93 percent to close at $1.27 apiece following news that it agreed to sell a controlling stake in Lavie Bio Ltd. to ICL, a global specialty minerals and chemicals company.

According to EVGN, the acquisition includes its MicroBoost AI for AG platform and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of the year.

Additionally, ICL will gain access to Lavie Bio’s assets, including its core team, BDD technology platform, microbial bank, data assets, the majority of its development programs, and its commercial products.

Upon completion, ICL expects to strengthen its position in the ag-biologicals sector.

Lavie Bio is known for its work in the ag-biologicals sector. It develops microbiome-based products aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability.