Why Johnson Controls International PLC (JCI) Went Up on Wednesday

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Companies Jump on Better Earnings, Outlook. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Johnson Controls International PLC (NYSE:JCI) stands against the other stocks.

The stock market extended its winning streak on Wednesday, closing firmer as investors seemed to have already priced in the news of tit-for-tat tariffs and uncertainties surrounding the Artificial Intelligence industry.

The Dow Jones gained another 0.71 percent, the S&P 500 grew 0.39 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq increased by 0.19 percent.

Ten companies traded in line with the broader market sentiment, mostly on the back of record achievements in their latest earnings performance and optimistic outlook guidance.

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 team of workers wearing white hardhani and safety goggles assembling a complex HVAC system.

Johnson Controls International PLC (NYSE:JCI)

Johnson Controls International PLC saw its share prices surge by 11.27 percent to end Wednesday’s trading at $86.01 apiece as investors took heart from a recent leadership change.

During an investor call for the release of its latest quarterly results on Wednesday, Johnson Controls named Joakim Weidemanis as its new chief executive officer, who is set to replace George Oliver effective March 2025.

The change was part of a succession plan announced in July last year following talks with activist investor Elliott Investment which has built a stake worth over $1 billion in the company.

Meanwhile, Johnson Controls announced an 11-percent decline in net income in the full year 2024 at $1.396 billion versus the $1.582 billion registered in 2023.

Net sales inched up by 2.8 percent to $22.95 billion from $22.33 billion year-on-year.

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 alone, net income rose by 11.6 percent to $451 million from $404 million year-on-year.

Overall JCI ranks 6th on our list of Wednesday’s top gainers. While we acknowledge the potential of JCI 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 JCI 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.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.