Wall Street finished mixed anew on Friday, as investors continued to weigh fresh developments on tariffs and inflation data.
The Nasdaq was the sole index eking out gains, up 0.41 percent. The Dow Jones decreased by 0.37 percent while the S&P 500 was little changed, dipping 0.01 percent.
In line with Nasdaq’s rally, 10 companies predominantly under the technology sector led the charge. In this article, we detailed the reasons behind their stellar performance.
To come up with this list of biggest advancers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A trader cheers his market gains. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
10. Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI)
Shares of Super Micro increased for a third consecutive day on Friday, adding 13.32 percent to close at $47.91 apiece as investors extended buying positions following the company’s optimistic long-term revenue projections.
Earlier this week, SMCI said revenues for fiscal year 2026 were expected to grow $40 billion, way higher by $10 billion than analyst consensus. Growth was expected to be driven by the integration of DLC technology, which is seen to be adopted by around 30 percent of new data centers over the next 12 months.
For the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, SMCI expects to have achieved revenues between $5.6 billion and $5.7 billion, or a 54-percent increase year-on-year.
Diluted net income per share was pegged between 50 cents to 52 cents, flat from the same period a year earlier.
9. CAE Inc. (NYSE:CAE)
CAE Inc. saw its share prices rally by 13.91 percent on Friday to finish at $26.78 each after posting stellar earnings performance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
On Thursday, CAE said net income attributable to shareholders expanded by 198 percent to $168.6 million from $56.5 million in the same period a year earlier, as revenues rose 12 percent to $1.22 billion from $1.09 billion year-on-year.
Adjusted earnings per share were higher by 21 percent at $0.29 versus $0.24 year-on-year.
For the rest of the year, CAE President and CEO Marc Parent said that the company remains on track to meet its previously stated three-year EPS target while achieving strong order intake, backlog, and free cash flow, saying that its success is a testament to the company’s unique culture.
CAE is a global technology firm specializing in providing training and simulation solutions for critical roles, primarily focused on pilot training, cabin crew training, and defense and security operations.
8. Roku Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU)
Roku grew its share prices for a third consecutive day, ending 14.14 percent higher at $99.07 apiece as investors cheered the company’s improved earnings performance last year.
In its earnings release, ROKU said it was able to narrow its net loss by 54.66 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $35.5 million from $78.3 million in the same period a year ago, while net loss for full-year 2024 shrunk by 81.8 percent to $129 million from $709 million in 2023.
Net revenues for the said quarter were higher by 22 percent to $1.2 billion from $984 million year-on-year, while for 2024, net revenues increased by 17 percent to $4.1 billion from $3.48 billion.
For the first quarter and full year 2025, ROKU expects revenues to settle at $1.005 billion and $4.6 billion, respectively.
7. CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)
CRISPR Therapeutics rose for a fourth day on Friday, ending the day higher by 14.33 percent to finish at $49.72 apiece, as investors cheered its upgraded rating from an investment advisory firm.
On Friday, Evercore ISI upgraded CSP to “outperform” from “in line,” while significantly raising its price target by 65 percent to $99 from $60 previously, on expectations that its clinical trial programs, CTX320 and CTX310, would succeed by 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively, and contribute to the company’s growth.
CTX320 is in an ongoing clinical trial in patients with elevated lipoprotein(a), a cardiovascular risk factor that affects up to 20 percent of the global population. Dose escalation is ongoing, with an update expected in the first half of 2025.
Meanwhile, CTX310 is in an ongoing clinical trial targeting ANGPTL3 in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), severe hypertriglyceridemia (SHTG), heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), or mixed dyslipidemias. Dose escalation is ongoing, with an update expected in the first half of 2025.
6. Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB)
Shares of Airbnb extended their winning streak for a third consecutive day, adding 14.45 percent to close at $161.42, as investor sentiment was fueled by its strong earnings performance last year.
In a statement, ABNB said it swung to a net income of $461 million in the fourth quarter of the year, reversing a net loss of $349 million in the same period a year earlier, as revenues rose 13.6 percent to $2.5 billion from $2.2 billion on the back of solid growth in overnight stays and a modest increase in average daily rate.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on the same day that ABNB co-founder Joe Gebbia is set to join the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Citing people privy to the matter, the report said that Gebbia, a Tesla board member and close friend of Musk, is expected to start shortly, albeit his role in the government remains unclear.
5. Applied Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:APLD)
Applied Digital saw its share prices surge by 15.17 percent on Friday to end at $9.11 apiece following news that the company raised $375 million in fresh funds from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. for the development of its Ellendale campus in North Dakota.
According to APLD, part of the proceeds will be used for repaying its existing obligations under Macquarie capital senior secured notes, which saw the latter investing $5 billion in APLD’s AI data center business last month.
The remainder of the proceeds would be used for the development of the campus’ first and second buildings.
The Ellendale campus is one of APLD’s major milestones which began construction in 2022. The facility currently houses the 180MW ELN01 for hosting crypto mining hardware and the 100MW ELN02 for high-performance computing (HPC). Two other buildings dedicated to HPC are expected to be completed over the next few years, totaling 300 MW.
4. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT)
The Goodyear Tire saw share prices rally by 17.26 percent on Friday to close at $9.58 apiece as investor sentiment was boosted by improvements in its earnings performance last year.
In a statement, GT said it achieved a net income of $72 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, reversing a $296 million net loss posted in the same period last year. Net income for the full year 2024 stood at $60 million, reversing a net loss of $687 million in 2023.
Revenues for the quarter, however, dipped 3.3 percent to $4.947 billion from $5.116 billion year-on-year, while revenues for the full-year comparable period declined 5.9 percent to $18.878 billion from $20.066 billion year-on-year.
For this year, GT reaffirmed its previous targets of delivering $1.5 billion in annual run-rate benefits, segment operating margin of 10 percent, gross proceeds above $2 billion from portfolio optimization, and a net leverage ratio of 2x to 2.5x.
3. Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:KC)
Kingsoft Cloud soared by 19.94 percent on Friday to end the day at $20.81 apiece as investor hopes were fueled by a report by Lyon that highlighted a breakthrough by China’s AI platform, DeepSeek. According to the report, the advancement was expected to accelerate the creation of AI applications in China, thereby pushing higher demand for cloud computing services.
Lyon also significantly raised its price target for KC by 272 percent to $20.5 from $5.5 previously.
KC has been earning a boost from DeepSeek news over the past few weeks, particularly after Xiaomi, which is also chaired by its chairman, Lei Jun, poached one of DeepSeek’s top developers, Luo Fuli, to join Xiaomi’s AI development team.
The news boosted investor sentiment on hopes that any AI development in Xiaomi will create a domino effect on Kingsoft’s business in cloud computing.
2. Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX)
Recursion Pharmaceuticals extended a six-day winning streak on Friday, surging 23.88 percent to close at $10.53 as investor optimism was fueled by Nvidia Corp.’s (NVDA) holdings in the company while disposing of shares in other firms.
NVDA submitted a regulatory filing on Friday, showing ownership reduction and increases in various stocks. Notably, NVDA retained its 7.7-million holdings in RXRX, while exiting firms, including SoundHound AI.
The news represented a vote of confidence not just for NVDA but among small investors.
In other developments, RXRX is also expected to release its earnings performance for 2024 within the next few weeks.
RXRX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the space by decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery.
1. WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD)
WeRide’s share prices skyrocketed by 83.46 percent on Friday to end the day at $31.50 each as investors gobbled up shares in the company after giant chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) snapped up 1.7 million stocks in its stocks.
At intra-day trading on Friday, WeRide’s stock price soared as high as 146 percent to $42.24 apiece before early profit-taking pulled the company’s valuation lower towards the end of the trading session.
NVDA released its stake positions in several companies on Friday, which saw its 44-percent ownership reduction in British chipmaker Arm Holdings, while also exiting Serve Robotics and SoundHound AI.
Meanwhile, WeRide uses NVDA’s advanced graphic processors and AI software to power its vehicles, pushing its market capitalization to $4.71 billion as of the market close.
According to an analyst from Triple D Trading, “There is no greater vote of confidence than Nvidia taking a stake in your company.”
While we acknowledge the potential of WRD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WRD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
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