Ten stocks took off on Wednesday, defying a lackluster performance on Wall Street, as investor funds continued to pour in, thanks to company-specific developments.
The stocks were notably dominated by artificial intelligence companies, boosted by increased spending in the sector. Four of the 10 soared to new all-time highs.
On the other hand, the Dow Jones was down by 0.37 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq decreased by 0.34 percent, and the S&P 500 index declined by 0.28 percent.
In this article, we focus on 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 a $2 billion market capitalization and 5 million shares in trading volume.
The New York Stock Exchange building. Photo by Дмитрий Трепольский on Pexels
10. GDS Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:GDS)
GDS Holdings saw its share prices jump by 8.08 percent on Wednesday to close at $40.67 apiece as investors loaded portfolios in Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, helped by Alibaba Group’s new $53-billion investment in the sector.
According to Alibaba, it partnered with chip giant Nvidia Corp. for the expansion of global data centers and AI products as it positions the sector as a core priority alongside its e-commerce platform.
Among the developments are physical AI capabilities such as data synthesis, model training, environmental simulation, and validation testing.
The news spilled over to Chinese companies, including GDS Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ:GDS), an AI infrastructure company, with strong confidence that further investments in the industry would largely bolster demand for data centers.
In other developments, investor sentiment was also boosted by announcements earlier this week that China’s AI sector has grown by 24 percent year-on-year to 900 billion yuan.
According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the number of AI companies in China has already surpassed 5,300, accounting for 15 percent globally.
9. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA)
Alibaba Group soared to a new all-time high on Wednesday, as investors gobbled up shares after boosting its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) and partnering with Nvidia Corp. to support the program.
In intra-day trading, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) climbed to its highest 52-week price of $180.16 before trimming gains to end the day just up by 8.19 percent at $176.44 apiece.
At an annual technology conference, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) CEO Eddie Wu said that the company was vigorously advancing a three-year AI initiative, boosting the total investment to 380 billion yuan, in line with its strategic vision and anticipation of the artificial superintelligence era.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) said it partnered with chip giant Nvidia Corp. for the expansion of global data centers and development of new AI products as it plans to make the sector a core priority alongside e-commerce.
Wu said that companies globally are spending $4 trillion over the next five years, and that Alibaba “needs to keep up.”
8. Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE:BTU)
Peabody Energy extended its winning streak to an 8th consecutive session on Wednesday, jumping 8.22 percent to finish at $25.81 apiece as investor confidence was fueled by expectations of stronger demand for energy until the end of the year.
During the session, Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE:BTU) rallied alongside its energy counterparts, leading gains across the overall thermal coal sector, on expectations that energy demand will pick up in the cooler fourth quarter of the year amid increased use of heating appliances.
Further, Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE:BTU) continues to benefit from the power-hungry data centers to support the needs of the artificial intelligence sector.
For the third quarter of the year, Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE:BTU) targeted seaborne thermal volume to hit 3.9 million tons, including 2.7 million export tons.
Seaborne metallurgical, on the other hand, was projected at 2.2 million tons and is expected to achieve 70 to 75 percent of the premium hard coking coal price index.
7. Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE:SCCO)
Shares of Southern Copper jumped to a new 52-week high on Wednesday, adding 8.38 percent to finish at $119.50 apiece as investors loaded positions following copper prices’ rally to a new 15-month high.
In intra-day trading, Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE:SCCO) soared to its highest price of $121.49 before slashing gains to end the day just up by 8.38 percent at $119.50 apiece.
The jump mirrored a rally in prices of copper during the day after Freeport-McMoran Inc. declared force majeure at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, one of the largest copper mining sites in the world.
During the session, the benchmark three-month copper index at the London Metal Exchange climbed by 3.63 percent to $10,336.50 per metric ton—by far its highest price since May 2024, on expectations that disruptions in the global copper supply would spark an increase in prices and benefit Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE:SCCO) alongside other producers.
Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE:SCCO), for its part, owns and operates copper mines, smelters, and refineries in Peru and Mexico.
6. Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC)
Shares of Fluence Energy jumped by 9.5 percent on Wednesday to finish at $11.18 apiece, mimicking the overall rally in energy stocks, as investors loaded positions in industries that are expected to benefit from the booming artificial intelligence sector.
Additionally, sentiment was further supported by its bagging of a new battery storage supply deal to support a 133-MW battery energy storage system in Poland.
In a statement, Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) said its subsidiary was awarded by DRI, the European renewables arm of Ukraine’s DTEK Group, to supply battery storage units for the Trzebinia project in southern Poland.
The 622 MWh Trzebinia project is set to be the largest battery storage facility taking part in the Polish Capacity Market when batteries are integrated into the system from 2027. It will deploy Fluence Energy, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FLNC) Smartstack platform—a modular, high-density system designed to enable fast deployment and optimized performance over an asset’s lifetime.
The announcement followed DTEK’s energization of a 200MW project across six sites in Ukraine using Fluence Energy, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FLNC) storage systems.
The project is designed to make Ukraine’s energy system more resilient in time for winter.
5. VNET Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET)
Shares of VNET Group surged by 10.91 percent on Wednesday to finish at $10.37 each as investors gobbled up shares in Chinese firms that will largely benefit from the artificial intelligence boom amid whopping investments in the sector.
The overall investor optimism can be attributed to Alibaba Group’s ramped-up spending in the AI sector to $53 billion, as it plans to make the sector a core priority alongside e-commerce.
Alibaba’s announcement also allayed fears of an AI bubble—concerns which were raised earlier this year by none other than its chief executive.
Expansion into the AI sector bodes well for VNET Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:VNET), as it positions itself through expanding into data centers in China.
Alibaba aside, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology also announced that the Chinese AI sector has already grown by 24 percent year-on-year to 900 billion yuan.
Additionally, the number of AI companies has already surpassed 5,300, accounting for 15 percent globally.
4. IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN)
Shares of IREN Ltd. rallied to a new all-time high on Wednesday, as sentiment was bolstered by an investment firm’s bullish price coverage and rating for its stock.
During the session, the stock climbed to its highest price of $49.30 before trimming gains to end the day just up by 12.86 percent at $47.14 apiece.
On Wednesday, investment firm Bernstein raised its price target for the company to $75, marking a 275 percent jump from its previous target of $20, while giving an “outperform” rating.
The revision was based on IREN Ltd.’s (NASDAQ:IREN) differentiated approach among Bitcoin miners, underscoring the development of its own AI infrastructure, while competitors pursue capital-light co-location deals with AI cloud companies.
Last week, IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) also received bullish coverage from Compass Point, having earned a “buy” recommendation for its stock.
IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) is riding the growing artificial intelligence wave, slowly transitioning to AI servicing by expanding its cloud business to support demand growth in high-performance computing (HPC) services.
3. Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SLNO)
Soleno Therapeutics extended its winning streak to a third consecutive day on Wednesday, jumping 13.46 percent to finish at $64.50 apiece, attracting investor funds after its competitor failed in its drug clinical trial for a treatment candidate for Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS).
On Wednesday, Soleno Therapeutics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SLNO) competitor, Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced that the third phase of its clinical trial for the potential treatment for PWS “did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement” over placebo on the study’s primary endpoint.
Following the results, the latter said that it was no longer pursuing the development of the drug candidate.
The drop removed a significant threat to Soleno Therapeutics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SLNO) own PWS drug Vykat, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat hyperphagia in patients with PWS.
Vykat is also the only FDA-approved drug to treat such a condition.
2. Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN)
Opendoor Technologies snapped a four-day losing streak on Wednesday, jumping 16.24 percent to end at $8.23 apiece, as investors mirrored an investment firm’s acquisition of a significant stake in the company.
Trading firm Jane Street said in a regulatory filing that it acquired 44 million shares in Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN), representing a 5.9 percent stake in the company. It clarified, however, that there were no activist plans in relation to the purchase.
Earlier this month, Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN) announced leadership changes, with the return of its two founders, Eric Wu and Keith Rabois, and the naming of Kaz Nejatian as its new chief executive officer (CEO), to support the company’s turnaround and revival from losses.
The leadership reshuffle followed the resignation of former CEO Carrie Wheeler, after mounting calls from the investing community for the return of its founders.
1. Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE)
Shares of Uniqure NV soared by as much as 275 percent on Wednesday to hit a new all-time high as investors cheered stellar results from the clinical trial of its drug candidate for Huntington’s disease.
During the session, shares of the company soared to its highest price of $51.21 before trimming gains to end the day just up by 247.73 percent at $47.50 apiece.
This followed an announcement on the same day that its potential treatment slowed progression of Huntington’s disease by 75 percent after 36 months.
Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE) said the drug candidate, AMT-130, was well-tolerated and that no adverse effects have been observed since 2022.
The company said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted AMT-130 Breakthrough Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designations.
“We are incredibly excited about these topline results and what they may represent for individuals and families affected by Huntington’s disease,” said Uniqure NV (NASDAQ:QURE) Chief Medical Officer Walid Abi-Saab.
“These findings reinforce our conviction that AMT-130 has the potential to fundamentally transform the treatment landscape for Huntington’s disease, while also providing important evidence supporting one-time, precision-delivered gene therapies for the treatment of neurological disorders,” he noted.
While we acknowledge the potential of QURE to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than QURE and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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