Why These 15 Automotive Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far In 2025

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The automotive industry is starting to shift gears this year as supply chains continue to improve and the worldwide rate-cut cycle stimulates more demand. In addition, Trump’s election is also changing things with loosened regulations helping legacy automotive companies, and tariffs helping domestic companies, though it hurts companies abroad.

Regardless, the electrification megatrend has continued, and electric vehicle shipments are projected to surge by 17% this year. Also, the European automotive sector is showing signs of recovery with a projected 2.1% growth.

The broader sector could get a lot hotter this year if macroeconomic metrics cooperate and rates come down more. Let’s take a look at the stocks that have already started to climb.

The Fastest Growing Automotive Brand in the World

A worker assembling parts in an automotive factory for an autonomous vehicle.

Methodology

For this article, I screened the top-performing automotive stocks year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).

15. Rush Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:RUSHA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 17

Rush Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:RUSHA) is a retailer of commercial vehicles.

The stock is up significantly so far in 2025 due to the company posting solid results. It has generated solid FCF despite the difficult conditions in the commercial vehicle industry. It has also approved a new stock repurchase program that authorizes the company to repurchase $150 million of its Class A and Class B shares.

Analysts also expect good results as it is set to report earnings for Q4 and full-year 2024 on February 19, 2025.

The consensus price target of $69 implies 15.66% upside.

RUSHA stock is up 8.89% year-to-date.

14. Douglas Dynamics Inc (NYSE:PLOW)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 16

Douglas Dynamics Inc (NYSE:PLOW) manufactures commercial work truck attachments and equipment.

The stock is up significantly year-to-date as analysts are optimistic about its upcoming Q4 2024 earnings report. The earnings release is scheduled for February 24, 2025. Current forecasts project $155 million in revenue vs. $134 million in Q4 2023. Full-year EPS is expected to grow 36.3% to $1.38.

Moreover, it completed a sale-leaseback deal with TPG Angelo Gordon in September 2024.

The consensus price target of $28.5 implies 10.53% upside.

PLOW stock is up 9.18% year-to-date.

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