Ten companies led the charge on Wednesday, bucking a mostly pessimistic broader market, on the back of better outlook, positive earnings performance, and news of government support.
Wall Street’s main indices finished mix, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 declining 0.50 percent and 0.27 percent, respectively. Nasdaq was the sole gainer, albeit inching up only 0.03 percent during the day.
In this article, we will explore the reasons behind the 10 firms’ strong performance. To come up with Wednesday’s top gainers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A man in long sleeves looking at stock market data. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
10. Kanzhun Ltd. (NASDAQ:BZ)
Share prices of Kanzhun Ltd. grew by 8.44 percent on Wednesday as investors placed bets on the company’s stock over a bullish growth outlook.
According to a recent report by investment research firm Zack Research, the consensus growth outlook for BZ inched higher by 0.7 percent over the past quarter, suggesting that analyst sentiment has improved and that the company’s earnings outlook is even stronger.
This year alone, BZ already saw its valuation increase by 16.35 percent, outpacing the technology sector’s 0.70 percent year-to-date rally.
It is worth noting that BZ has beat analysts’ earnings estimates over the past three quarters. By next month, investors will be watching out for cues on whether the company will be able to sustain consensus growth.
BZ operates as a Chinese human resources company providing online recruitment services through its mobile application, BOSS Zhipin.
9. Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO)
Oklo saw its share prices rise by 8.59 percent on Wednesday to end at $54.38 apiece as investors bought up on news of more concrete efforts from the US government’s plans to achieve a more abundant supply of energy for the country.
Just recently, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued his first secretarial order called “Unleashing the Golden Era of American Energy Dominance” which outlines a comprehensive plan to accelerate the production of domestic energy, modernize critical infrastructure, and simplify regulatory processes.
One of the efforts laid out in the program is investing further in research and development that can advance various energy sectors, including next-generation nuclear power, which OKLO’s business is heavily reliant on.
OKLO is a nuclear power technology company developing next-generation fission powerhouses.
8. Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:RXRX)
Recursion Pharmaceuticals extended its winning streak for a fourth consecutive day, adding another 8.88 percent to its valuation to finish Wednesday at $8.34 apiece as investors continued to place bets on the company ahead of the release of its earnings performance in the next few weeks.
In the third quarter of 2024, RXRX widened its net loss by 3 percent to $95.8 million from the $93 million registered in the same period last year, despite revenues soaring by 148 percent to $26.1 million from $10.5 million year-on-year.
RXRX is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the space by decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery.
RXRX leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias.
7. Blackberry Ltd. (NYSE:BB)
Blackberry surged by 10.44 percent on Wednesday to close at $5.82 apiece as investors cheered news of the company’s partnership with automotive software and consulting specialist Pi Square Technologies to train thousands of software engineers in India in a bid to advance the country’s automotive industry.
In a statement released late Tuesday, BB said the partnership, through its QNX division, would run over the next few years to address the growing global demand for highly skilled embedded systems developers.
The partnership particularly aims to spur the adoption of its QNX software development platform to support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Meanwhile, Pi Square would work with hundreds of Indian academic institutions to incorporate the QNX software into the schools’ curriculum.
“This should provide students with practical knowledge in embedded systems software development, equipping them with turnkey skills that they can use to solve real industry problems upon graduation,” BB said.
6. iQIYI Inc. (NASDAQ:IQ)
iQIYI Inc., a Chinese-based online entertainment platform, saw its share prices increase by 10.48 percent on Wednesday to end at $2.53 apiece as investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of the release of its fourth quarter and full-year earnings results next week.
Recently, IQ earned a number of bullish outlooks from analysts on the back of its strong viewership over the past quarters.
Last week alone, IQ said it saw a surge in viewership and online engagement during the Chinese New Year, saying classic IPs, including blockbuster films, served as a powerful foundation for the surge.
Meanwhile, it also saw evolving content preferences of users, already gradually transitioning to a mix of long-form videos and mini-dramas.
Last month, IQ upgraded its Diamond VIP membership enabling members to unlock Member Express Packages without needing additional membership points or purchases.
Meanwhile, 2024 saw Member Express Packages increasingly become the standard for drama lovers, with more than 10 million VIP members using the service when viewing popular shows.
5. VNET Group Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET)
VNET Group grew its share prices by 13.44 percent on Wednesday to close at $11.31 apiece as investors repositioned their portfolios amid the company’s heavy expansion on Artificial Intelligence.
In its last earnings call, VNET Group announced higher capital spending this year on the back of robust demand for its wholesale services. It underscored that it would work closely with its strategic suppliers and maximize the synergies in order to ensure that its capital spending would grow at a steady pace.
At the same call, the company expects to deliver approximately 191 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity until the first quarter of 2025, as well as some 105 MW in the second and third quarters of 2025.
4. CVS Health Corp. (NYSE:CVS)
CVS Health surged by 14.95 percent on Wednesday to end at $63.22 apiece as investors cheered the company’s optimistic outlook for its performance this year.
In a statement, CVS President and CEO David Joyner said that the company “will be positioned for stronger performance in 2025” as it works on delivering better care for consumers while improving outcomes and reducing costs.
The bullish outlook came despite mixed earnings results in the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.
In the last three months of 2024, CVS said net income fell by 28 percent to $1.6 billion from the $2.047 billion registered in the same period last year, as well as by 45 percent to $4.59 billion in 2024 from $8.37 billion in 2023.
The lower net income came despite revenues growing by 4 percent in the last three months, at $97.7 billion from $93.8 billion year-on-year, as well as in 2024 at $372 billion from $357.8 billion.
3. BigBear.ai Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BBAI)
BigBear.ai surged by 21.75 on Wednesday to close at $9.74 apiece as promises from the US government to support the country’s Artificial Intelligence companies fueled investor optimism.
At a recent AI summit in Paris, US Vice President JD Vance said that the US government “will…work with our allies and partners to strengthen and extend these protections and close pathways to adversaries attaining AI capabilities that threaten all of our people.”
“This administration will ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide…The United States of America is the leader in AI, and our administration plans to keep it that way,” he said.
BBAI was last week’s top performer, having surged 102.6 percent in just a week’s trading, partly due to its new contract with the Department of Defense for its Virtual Anticipation Network prototype that would support the department in utilizing custom AI models to enhance its foreign news media assessment and analysis of countries that are deemed as US potential enemies.
2. Confluent Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)
Shares of Confluent rallied by 25.08 percent on Wednesday to end at $37.65 each as investors bought up positions following the company’s optimistic outlook and improved earnings performance in 2024.
In a statement, CFLT said it expects subscription revenues to pick up to $1.117 billion to $1.121 billion for full-year 2025 from the $922.1 million registered last year.
Meanwhile, subscription revenues were expected to settle between $253 million and $254 million for the first quarter of the year from the $250.6 million in the last quarter.
Last year, CFLT narrowed its net loss by 21 percent to $345 million from $442 million, as well as by 6 percent for the fourth quarter to $88 million from $94 million year-on-year.
Revenues last year likewise increased by 24 percent to $963 million from $776 million, as well as by 22 percent to $261 million from $213 million for the fourth quarter of 2024.
1. Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST)
Upstart Holdings saw its share prices climb by 31.82 percent on Wednesday to finish at $88.77 apiece as investors cheered news of an impressive earnings performance last year.
In a statement, UPST said net loss in the last quarter shrunk by as much as 93 percent to $2.755 million from the $42.398 million registered in the same period a year earlier, as well as by 47 percent to $128 million in full-year 2024 from $240 million in 2023.
Revenues expanded by 56 percent to $218 million from $140 million in the last quarter, as well as by 24 percent in 2024 to $636 million from $513 million year-on-year.
UPST CEO David Girouard said the strong performance can be attributed to across all product categories growing dramatically.
“We launched into 2025 with unparalleled energy and optimism for the future of Upstart AI lending and the mission we’re on together,” he noted.
While we acknowledge the potential of UPST 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 timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as UPST 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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