Ten stocks soared higher on Thursday, outperforming a lackluster performance on Wall Street, as investor sentiment was primarily bolstered by strong earnings performance and outlook. Of the 10 stocks, five notched new record highs.
Meanwhile, the three major indices finished mixed, with the Dow Jones the sole gainer by 0.11 percent. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both declined by 0.13 percent and 0.72 percent, respectively.
In this article, we spotlight the 10 top-performing stocks on Wednesday and detail 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. Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE:CUK)
Carnival saw its share prices jump by 8.60 percent on Thursday to close at $30.94 apiece, as investors took path from a competitor’s robust earnings performance, which could signal how the industry fared in the past quarter, while increasing positions ahead of the next dividend payment.
According to the company, it is set to distribute 15 cents worth of dividends to all common shareholders as of February 13, payable on Feb. 27, 2026.
“This decision highlights confidence in our future performance and continued commitment to delivering value to shareholders,” Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE:CUK) CFO David Bernstein said earlier.
Meanwhile, the strong earnings performance in its rival, Royal Caribbean Group, spilled over to the overall industry, with the company achieving a 48 percent attributable net income expansion at $4.27 billion in full-year 2025, with revenues of $17.9 billion, or 8.5 percent higher year-on-year.
In other news, Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE:CUK) told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is set to unify its two companies into one, alongside their listed shares on the London and New York Stock Exchanges.
According to Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE:CUK), it would make Carnival Corp. the main company and have Carnival PLC become a wholly-owned subsidiary, which would then create one single stock for all shareholders.
At present, the firm’s shares are traded under the ticker symbols CCL and CUK.
The company targets to secure shareholder approval for the plan on April 17, 2026.
9. Allegro MicroSystems Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGM)
Allegro MicroSystems soared to a two-year high on Thursday after swinging to profitability in the third quarter of the fiscal year and raising its sales outlook for the current quarter.
At intra-day trading, the stock jumped to its highest price of $39.89 before trimming gains to finish the session just up by 9.93 percent at $37.98 apiece.
In an updated report, Allegro MicroSystems Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGM) said that it swung to an attributable net income of $8.3 million in the third quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2025, reversing an attributable net loss of $6.86 million in the same period a year earlier.
Full-year attributable net income stood at $1.59 million, reversing a $58.2 million net loss in fiscal year 2025.
Net sales for the quarter jumped by 29 percent to $229 million from $177.9 million in the same period a year earlier, bringing its full-year net sales higher by 21.5 percent to $646.9 million from $532.18 million.
“This performance was driven by broad strength in automotive sales, which grew 28 percent year-over-year, including a 46 percent increase in e-Mobility. Our industrial sales also saw robust growth, increasing 31 percent year-over-year, led by another record quarter in data center,” said Allegro MicroSystems Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGM) President and CEO Mike Doogue.
For the fourth quarter ending March 2026, Allegro MicroSystems Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGM) is gunning for net sales between $230 million and $240 million, with the midpoint implying a growth of 22 percent year-on-year.
Diluted earnings per share are expected at $0.14 to $0.18.
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