We recently published a list of Why These 15 Industrial Stocks Are up the Most So Far in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR) stands against other industrial stocks that are up the most so far in 2025.
Industrial stocks are sensitive to the economic cycle. Many of them have already fallen victim to the downturn and have reversed much of their earlier gains from the past few years. However, 2025 is shaping up to be a breakout year for industrial stocks elsewhere. The industrial sector is very broad, and you’ll always find winners that outpace expectations and draw the attention of investors who once overlooked these workhorse companies.
Manufacturing and industrial firms have doubled down on digital transformation and have poured resources into automation to boost efficiency. This investment is paying off as companies become more agile and better equipped to handle shocks, whether from geopolitical tensions, labor shortages, or shifting customer needs. It’s worth looking into the biggest winners so far this year, as they could continue building on the momentum.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the best-performing industrial stocks year-to-date.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
An engineer conducting tests in a laboratory, looking closely at the latest nuclear fuel technology.
Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 4
Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR) is a nuclear technology company developing and commercializing advanced metallic nuclear fuels designed to improve reactor safety, efficiency, and reduce nuclear waste.
The biggest catalyst for Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR)’s stock surge in 2025 has been a combination of macro and company-specific factors. The most important driver is the growing investor focus on nuclear power as a solution to surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data centers, which has lifted sentiment for nuclear technology stocks broadly.
Lightbridge’s partnership with Oklo, announced in January 2025, to explore co-locating a commercial-scale fuel fabrication facility, was a key event that triggered a sharp rally in the shares.
The company also reported significant technical progress in its 2024 year-end update, including successful uranium-zirconium fuel casting at Idaho National Laboratory, positive safety and performance data from MIT, and a strong cash position of $40 million after raising $15 million via stock issuance. Despite being pre-revenue and reporting a widened net loss of $11.8 million for 2024, investors have bid up the stock on the prospect of future commercialization and the critical role of advanced nuclear fuel in meeting future energy needs.
Lightbridge Corporation (NASDAQ:LTBR) stock is up 68.29% year-to-date.
Overall, LTBR ranks 5th on our list of industrial stocks that are up the most so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of LTBR 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 time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LTBR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.