10 Big Names Delivering Outsized Gains

Ten stocks stood firmer on Wednesday, defying a broader market pessimism, as investors took heart from positive company-specific developments.

In contrast, Wall Street’s main indices all finished in the red, with the Nasdaq down the most by 1 percent. The S&P 500 followed with a 0.53 percent drop, while the Dow Jones dipped by 0.09 percent.

In this article, we spotlight the 10 top performers on Wednesday and break down the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we focused exclusively on stocks with more than $2 billion in market capitalization and 5 million shares in trading volume.

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10. USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR)

USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) grew its share prices by 9.66 percent on Wednesday to close at $18.28 apiece as investors loaded portfolios ahead of the start of its magnet facility’s commercial operations, supported by rosy prospects from the United States’ invasion of Venezuela.

Earlier this month, the US invaded Venezuela with the arrest of its former president, Nicolas Maduro and his wife over narco-related charges, as well as the seizure of up to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil from the South American country.

Despite the move that earned the ire of various neighboring countries, investors took the invasion as a cue for the US’ potential access to the untapped mineral resources in Venezuela, especially as the world’s largest economy is underway with the expansion of domestic rare earth manufacturing to reduce dependence on China.

Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc reportedly holds as much as 300,000 metric tons of rare earth deposits, including lanthanum, thorium, and crucially, neodymium—a key ingredient for manufacturing high-performance permanent magnets, which could support USA Rare Earth Inc.’s (NASDAQ:USAR) magnet facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma currently under development.

9. Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSEAmerican:UEC)

Uranium Energy grew its share prices by 10.55 percent on Wednesday to close at $17.19 apiece, nearly hitting its 52-week high, as investors took path from strong demand outlook for uranium over the next few years.

In its short-term energy outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that it projects power demand to increase to 4,256 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2026 and 4,364 billion kWh in 2027 from 4,198 billion kWh last year, as more AI and cryptocurrency data centers ramp up their power consumption to support the rapidly-growing industries.

Share of the nuclear power alone is expected to increase to 19 percent this year and slide back to 18 percent in 2027, versus 18 percent last year. This, on the other hand, is expected to spill over to uranium companies such as Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSEAmerican:UEC).

In another study, Equity Insider also posted optimism for the overall nuclear sector, saying that firms namely Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSEAmerican:UEC), soon-to-be-listed Eagle Energy Metals Corp., as well as NexGen Energy, Denison Mines, and Energy Fuels Inc., would benefit from the growth.

“The intersection of the AI boom and national security is completely reshaping the market, with the global Small Modular Reactor (SMR) sector now projected to hit $10.3 billion by 2032. In response, the Department of Energy just awarded $800 million to advance US reactor deployment, while new federal actions are fast-tracking nuclear licensing and domestic uranium mining. The narrative is clear: Big Tech cannot build the future of AI without a massive, secure, and domestic supply of uranium,” Equity Insider said.