Micro- and small-cap companies dominated the stock market last week, clocking in impressive gains on the back of a flurry of catalysts that boosted investing appetite.
In this article, we named last week’s top 10 performers that outperformed the Russell 2000 index, which dropped by 4.04 percent week-on-week. Among them, one firm particularly stood out with its outstanding 317-percent jump, thanks to a $1-billion deal that could fuel its growth prospects.
To come up with the list, we considered the stocks with the highest week-on-week change, comparing their share prices on March 7 and February 28.
We classified micro-cap companies as those with a market capitalization below $300 million and small-cap firms as those with a market capitalization below $2 billion.
Photo by George Morina on Pexels
10. NetClass Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:NTCL)
NetClass Technology saw its share price grow by 43 percent last week to end at $10.27 apiece from its $7.14 closing price on February 28. Similar to its Chinese peers, the firm has also been riding on the booming artificial intelligence industry in China.
NTCL is a newly-listed company that debuted on the US stock exchange on December 13, 2024, yet its last share price already marked a 105.4-percent increase from its $5 close on its first trading, underscoring investor confidence.
During its initial public offering, NTCL successfully raised as much as $9 million from offering 1.8 million ordinary shares, as well as another $1.35 million from the full exercise of the underwriters’ allotment option.
According to NTCL, proceeds from the offer will be used to fund the development of its courseware and online technology platform, expansion of application development service and subscription services, marketing and brand building, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
9. Fold Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FLD)
Fold Holdings grew its share price by 44 percent week-on-week to end Friday’s trading at $7.58 apiece versus the $5.26 finish on February 28 following news that it hiked its Bitcoin ownership by 475.
Following the purchase, FLD’s total Bitcoin ownership now stands at 1,485.
According to FLD, it financed its new acquisition through the issuance of convertible notes at a 100-percent premium with a conversion price of $12.50 per share.
FLD CEO Will Reeves also said that Bitcoin will play a huge role in the foundation of a new financial era, which FLD promised to support moving forward.
Reeves emphasized that Bitcoin’s corporate treasury serves a dual purpose by providing value to investors seeking Bitcoin exposure while also functioning as a strategic reserve to support its Bitcoin-native financial products.
8. Park Ha Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:PHH)
Park Ha surged by 46.7 percent last week to end at $7.69 on Friday versus the $5.24 closing week-on-week despite the lack of fresh catalysts to boost investing appetite.
PHH, a China-based company focused on developing private skincare labels, direct skincare product sales, and franchise alliance promotions, is also a newly listed firm on the US stock exchange, having debuted on December 27, 2024.
From its initial public offering (IPO) price of $4 apiece, PHH’s latest stock price already marked a 92.25-percent jump, signaling investor optimism.
PHH was able to raise $4.8 million from its IPO, with net proceeds intended to be used for expanding the scale of directly-owned stores in the PRC, purchasing existing product patents to develop proprietary products, and acquiring ingredient suppliers to reduce production costs over the long term.
7. BioXcel Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BTAI)
BioXcel’s share price increased by 56 percent week-on-week to finish Friday at $3.37 from $2.16 on February 28 as investor sentiment was largely boosted by news that it has achieved a 33-percent enrollment for the third phase study of its BXCL501 which aims to treat agitation associated with various neuropsychiatric disorders that is affecting an estimated 23 million individuals in the US.
According to BTAI, it aims to enroll 200 patients to join the study, and it officially opened 23 clinical trial sites for the trial.
The study focuses on the lowest approved dose of IGALMI and aims to support a supplemental new drug application for label expansion in the home setting. BTAI expects to release the top-line data in the second half of the year.
6. Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ:CMRX)
Chimerix Inc. soared by 60.5 percent last week to end at $8.43 apiece versus the $5.25 price week-on-week, as investor sentiment was boosted by news that it was set to be acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
In a statement on Wednesday, Jazz said that it entered into a definitive agreement with CMRX to acquire the latter’s shares for $8.55 apiece for a total of $935 million.
Jazz said both parties expect to conclude the deal in the second quarter of the year.
The acquisition will allow Jazz to add CMRX’s clinical asset dordaviprone to its oncology research and development pipeline—a novel first-in-class small molecule treatment in development for H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma, a rare, high-grade brain tumor that most commonly affects children and young adults.
“We are encouraged by the dordaviprone clinical trial results to date and look forward to closing the proposed acquisition and working with our new colleagues from Chimerix to fully leverage our combined R&D and commercial expertise to deliver this novel therapy to patients, beginning as early as the second half of this year,” said Jazz Chairman and CEO Bruce Cozadd.
5. QMMM Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:QMMM)
QMMM Holdings soared by 60 percent week-on-week to end Friday’s trading at $1.47 each from the $0.9150 close on February 28 as investors gobbled up shares in the company following a notification from Nasdaq that it fell below the $1 bid price requirement to remain listed on the stock exchange.
According to a statement released on February 28, QMMM was given 180 calendar days to regain compliance with the minimum bid price or face delisting.
“The company is currently evaluating options to regain compliance and intends to regain timely compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirement. Although the company will use all reasonable efforts to achieve compliance…, there can be no assurance that the company will be able to regain compliance with that rule or will otherwise be in compliance with other Nasdaq continued listing requirements,” it said.
While the bargain-hunt of stocks in QMMM helped propel the stock price back to the $1 territory, it can only be considered a bandaid solution, as a potential sell-off could still pull its price back down.
4. Coffee Holding Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:JVA)
Coffee Holding saw its share price grow by 62.48 percent week-on-week to end Friday’s trading at $9.57 apiece from the $5.89 close on February 28 as investor sentiment was boosted by strong demand for its coffee products, as evidenced by a 15.2-percent growth in revenues during the last quarter.
The strong performance propelled the company to a net profit of $2.2 million, reversing a net loss of $835 million in 2023.
“With coffee prices remaining over $2.00/lb. for the majority of 2024, we were able to capitalize on our long-term strategy of having a horizontally integrated product mix,” JVA said in a statement.
“Even with commodity prices rising as fast as they did, especially during the second half of the year, we still were required to hold off on increasing our prices to our large supermarket and wholesale customers until the national brands increased their prices, which clearly had a negative effect on both revenues and earnings up until when the majority of these price increases were implemented during the latter half of fiscal Q4 of 2024,” added JVA President and CEO Andrew Gordon. “Now, we believe that these increases, combined with an elevated Arabica futures market, should provide us with a strong tailwind heading into fiscal 2025.”
3. Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:TNXP)
Tonix Pharmaceuticals saw its share price surge by 65.6 percent week-on-week to end Friday at $13.02 versus $7.86 on February 28 as investors bought up shares ahead of an investor summit next week.
Investors repositioned portfolios following news that TNXP would present at the 2025 Virtual Investor Summit on Tuesday, March 11, where they would closely look out for cues and updates on its TNX-102 SL, a priority product candidate that aims to manage fibromyalgia.
TNXP said it expects to receive the decision of the Food and Drug Administration on the marketing authorization of the product on August 15, 2025.
Apart from TNX-102 SL, its portfolio also includes TNX-1300, a biologic in Phase 2 development designed to treat cocaine intoxication.
2. LZ Technology Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:LZMH)
LZ Technology jumped by 113 percent week-on-week to close at $12.04 apiece on Friday versus the $5.65 recorded a week prior, with the recent performance representing investors’ vote of confidence in a company that only debuted on the stock market on February 27.
From its initial public offering price of $4 apiece, LZMH’s latest share price already represented a 200-percent jump. Similar to its Chinese peers, trading in the company may have been buoyed by the continued appetite for Chinese stocks, thanks to the booming artificial intelligence industry through DeepSeek.
LZMH is a technology and advertising firm operating through its subsidiaries in China. Its business spans three key verticals: Smart Community, Out-of-Home Advertising, and Local Life. Smart Community services provide intelligent access control and safety management systems, installed in thousands of residential communities in China.
1. Visionary Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:GV)
Visionary Holdings soared further on Friday to clock in a 317-percent jump in share price week-on-week at $6.05 apiece versus $1.45 on February 28.
The performance followed news that it reached a $1-billion financing consent letter with the Alfardan Group of Qatar to accelerate research, development, and global expansion of its PEGASUS new energy vehicles.
While details of the financing were not divulged, investors took heart on the recently clinched financing’s potential to support and bolster the company’s business growth.
In the past three trading days alone, GV’s stock price already surged by 260 percent.
Headquartered in Toronto, GV recently announced that it officially launched PEGASUS and that it aims for the latter to be the number one brand in the automotive industry ecosystem of an independently developed brand in Canada.
While we acknowledge the potential of GV as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GV but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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