10 Stocks are Flying Past Expectations; Airlines Take Center Stage

Ten stocks soared higher on Thursday, outperforming a lackluster performance on Wall Street, thanks to a series of company-specific developments that boosted investor appetite.

The airline sector noticeably dominated the companies after upbeat comments about the travel industry, coupled with impressive earnings performance from one of the players.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones rose by 0.43 percent, the S&P 500 increased by 0.27 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up by 0.09 percent.

In this article, we name Thursday’s top-performing stocks and detail the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and over 5 million shares in trading volume.

10. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Southwest Airlines rallied for the third day on Thursday to hit a new all-time high as investors gobbled up shares ahead of the upcoming earnings season, buoyed by growth expectations in the airline industry.

At intra-day trading, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) grew to a new all-time high of $37.85 before paring gains to end the day just up by 8.14 percent at $37.35 apiece, likely boosted by Delta Airlines’ comments that travel demand is beginning to stabilize.

Investors took the comment as a cue that the airline sector, despite the headwinds, would report positive earnings results for the second quarter of the year.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) is expected to release the results of its financial and operating performance for the second quarter on July 24, 2025.

For the April to June period, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) expects revenue per available seat mile to remain flat or down by 4 percent year-on-year, with available seat miles pegged to increase by 1 to 2 percent.

9. QuantumScape Corporation (NYSE:QS)

QuantumScape Corporation extended its winning streak to a third consecutive day on Thursday, adding 8.73 percent to close at $9.09 apiece as investors continued to scoop up shares ahead of the release of its earnings results.

According to the company, it will release its second quarter financial and operating performance after market close on July 23, 2025, to be followed by a conference call at 5 PM Eastern Time.

Since Wednesday, QuantumScape Corporation (NYSE:QS) has started soliciting questions from its shareholders that they would like addressed on the call.

Investors will be closely watching out for the company’s earnings and production outlook, given the recent achievement of a milestone through the integration of the advanced Cobra separator process into baseline cell production.

According to QuantumScape Corporation (NYSE:QS), Cobra forms the foundation of its high-throughput, continuous-flow separator production platform. It was designed to enable faster, more energy-efficient production with a smaller equipment footprint compared to earlier processes, and represents a step-change improvement in ceramic separator manufacturing.