10 Stocks Stealing the Spotlight Early as Christmas Looms

Ten stocks stood firmer on Tuesday, mimicking a broader market strength, as funds poured back into stocks on strong investor optimism.

On Wall Street, all three main indices finished in the green, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, up 0.59 percent, followed by the Dow Jones, which rose 0.39 percent, and the S&P 500, which grew 0.25 percent.

Indices aside, we spotlight the names of the 10 stocks that led Tuesday’s charge and detail the reasons behind their gains.

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

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels

10. NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI)

NXP Semiconductors extended its rally for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday, jumping 7.95 percent to close at $215.35 apiece as investors continued to load portfolios ahead of the deadline to be included in the next quarterly dividend payment.

According to NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI), it would distribute an interim dividend of $1.014 per share to all its ordinary shareholders as of the December 10 record date, payable on January 7, 2026.

The dividends would be subject to a 15 percent withholding tax for Dutch residents. Non-Dutch resident shareholders may be entitled to a full or a partial refund depending on their circumstances.

In the third quarter of the year, NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) dropped its net income attributable to shareholders by 12 percent to $631 million from 718 million in the same period last year. Revenues were down by 2 percent to $3.17 billion from $3.25 billion year-on-year, but were within the company’s previous outlook.

Despite the dismal performance, NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) said that it experienced broad-based sequential improvement across all regions and end markets.

“Our outlook reflects the strength of our company-specific growth drivers and signs of a cyclical recovery. We remain focused on disciplined investment and portfolio enhancement to drive profitable growth, while maintaining control over the factors we can influence,” said NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) President and CEO Rafael Sotomayor.

9. AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile bounced back by 8.14 percent on Tuesday to close at $56.89 apiece as investors took heart from the unveiling of five new rocket launches beginning in the next two weeks.

In a social media post on the same day, AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) said that it would make five launches beginning December 15 until March 2026.

Its next-generation satellite, BlueBird 6, would launch on December 15 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India.

According to the company, the said satellite, when launched, would feature the largest commercial phased array in low Earth orbit at nearly 2,400 square feet, representing a 3.5 times increase in size over BlueBirds 1 to 5 and supports 10 times the data capacity.

“Our next-generation satellites will soon enable ubiquitous cellular broadband coverage direct to everyday smartphones from space,” said AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan.

“As an American company, we are proud to demonstrate US leadership in space innovation while pioneering the next era of global connectivity,” he added.

In line with the BlueBird 6 launch, AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) also announced the expansion of its manufacturing sites in Texas and Florida.

“As we accelerate production of our next-generation BlueBird satellites, the expansion allows us to increase capacity, strengthen our supply chain, and bring even more high-technology manufacturing work back to the United States. This is about building more satellites, faster, and doing it right here at home so we can deliver on our mission to close the connectivity gaps and deliver cellular broadband where it is needed the most,” said Avellan.