Ten stocks boasted double-digit gains on Wednesday as investor funds poured back into the market, buoyed by the US and Iran’s two-week ceasefire that alleviated fears of a worst-case scenario for the global economy. Of the 10 in the list, three companies climbed to new all-time highs.
The stocks mirrored the rally on Wall Street, with the three major indices all finishing with more than 2 percent gains.
In this article, we focus on the 10 top performers and break down the reasons behind their gains.
To come up with the list, we focused on the companies 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. Compass Inc. (NYSE:COMP)
Compass snapped a four-day losing streak on Wednesday, jumping 11.38 percent to finish at $7.44, primarily driven by an overall market optimism after the US shook hands with Iran for a two-week ceasefire.
The stock rallied alongside Wall Street’s three major indices, all clocking more than 2 percent gains during the day.
The rally was supported by announcements over the past few weeks that Compass Inc. (NYSE:COMP) officially dismissed its lawsuit filed against its counterpart, Zillow, in relation to the latter’s marketing ban.
In a statement, the listed firm said that the withdrawal followed Zillow’s announcement that it will no longer ban homesellers and their real estate brokers from publicly marketing a listing on the Compass family of websites or Redfin.com before marketing on Zillow.
“The end of the ‘Zillow Ban’ is a major victory for homesellers and their real estate professionals. It ensures that homeowners have the freedom to decide when, where, and how to market their homes, and that real estate professionals can uphold their fiduciary duties to their clients without fear of being banned by Zillow,” Compass Inc. said.
“With homesellers and their real estate professionals no longer subject to punishment by Zillow for publicly marketing a home, Compass will voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit,” it added.
Compass Inc. is a global real estate services company with a presence in the US and 120 other countries. It serves millions of buyers and sellers through brands @properties, Better Homes and Gardens, Century 21, Compass, and Corcoran, among others.
9. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC)
Intel Corp. extended its winning streak to a 6th straight session on Wednesday, climbing 11.42 percent to finish at $58.95, following news that it would join Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors capable of powering 1 terawatt of computing capacity annually.
In a post on X, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) said that it would join Musk’s Terafab project with SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla to help refactor silicon fab technology, in its latest effort to restore its status as one of the leading chipmakers.
“Our ability to design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale will help accelerate Terafab’s aim to produce 1 TW/year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics,” it said.
Terafab is one of Musk’s flagship projects with an aim to manufacture his own chips for robotics, AI, and space data centers.
“Terafab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory, and packaging will get built in the future,” Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan said in a separate post on X.
“Intel is proud to be a partner and work closely with Elon on this highly strategic project.”
Musk said last month that the Terafab project would be developed in Austin, Texas, and jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX.
8. Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)
Teradyne surged to a fresh all-time high on Wednesday, as optimistic sentiment over Intel Corp.’s involvement in Elon Musk’s Terafab project spilled over into its stock.
In intra-day trading, Teradyne Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) climbed to its highest price of $358.69 before paring gains to finish the day just up by 11.42 percent at $358.29 apiece, after Intel Corp. announced that it would join the Terafab project with SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla to help refactor silicon fab technology and develop semiconductors capable of powering 1 terawatt of compute annually.
Intel Corp. is one of Teradyne Inc.’s largest customers, apart from Samsung, Qualcomm, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, and IBM.
As a leading chip test systems provider, any innovation and production expansion in semiconductors could benefit the company as this would spark higher demand for advanced testing solutions.
In other news, Teradyne Inc. grew its net income last year by 2.2 percent to $554 million from $542 million in 2024. Net revenues increased by 13.12 percent to $3.2 billion from $2.8 billion year-on-year.
In the fourth quarter alone, net income increased by 76 percent to $257 million from $146 million in the same period a year earlier, while net revenues surged 40.8 percent to $1.08 billion from $769.2 million.
7. Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI)
Applied Optoelectronics surged to a new all-time high on Wednesday, as the stock mirrored the rally in the broader market alongside developments in the artificial intelligence sector.
In intra-day trading, the stock climbed to its highest level of $134.49 before paring gains to finish the day just up by 12.80 percent at $132.70 apiece.
Wednesday also marked its fifth consecutive day of gains, helped by news earlier this month of strong demand for its next-generation transceivers, following a major customer’s upsized order for the 800G variant.
According to Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI), the customer, which it refused to identify, hiked its 800G orders to $124 million from $53 million, more than doubling its existing backlog for the latter.
“This increased order for our 800G transceivers reflects both the customer’s confidence in AOI and the growing demand for 800G optics,” Applied Optoelectronics Inc. Chairman and CEO Dr. Thompson Lin said.
Following product qualification, Applied Optoelectronics Inc. expects to kick off the delivery for both the initial and upsized orders in the second quarter of the year, with completion targeted by the end of 2026.
“We also recently shipped the first 10,000 units of an 800G single-mode transceiver order to another hyperscale datacenter customer,” Lin noted.
Launched in September last year, the 800G optical transceivers are built for high-performance AI and cloud data center networks requiring superior port density and bandwidth efficiency. It is available in standard pluggable form factors and is essential for high-capacity spine switching and high-speed GPU cluster interconnects.
6. Oscar Health Inc. (NYSE:OSCR)
Oscar Health extended its winning streak to a 6th straight day on Wednesday, jumping 12.88 percent to close at $14.64 apiece following news of higher reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage plans for next year.
Oscar Health Inc. (NYSE:OSCR) surged alongside its peers after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced earlier this week that it would raise to 2.48 percent in 2027 the reimbursement rates for Medicare plans, versus the mere 0.09 percent announced in January.
The higher rate would translate to more than $13 billion in additional payments for 2027.
Oscar Health Inc. is one of the leading insurance companies offering Medicare plans and is expected to benefit from the higher reimbursement rates.
In other news, Oscar Health Inc. said that it is scheduled to announce the results of its earnings performance in the first quarter of the year before market open on May 6. A conference call will be held to discuss the financial and operating highlights.
For full-year 2026 alone, the company is targeting to grow its revenues by 60 to 62 percent to a range of $18.7 billion to $19 billion, versus $11.7 billion posted in 2025.
5. Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT)
Riot Platforms extended its winning streak to a 6th consecutive day on Wednesday, climbing 13.53 percent to close at $16.11 apiece, after cashing in $102.3 million on gains from the sale of Bitcoins over the past five days.
This week alone, the company successfully disposed of 500 Bitcoins, successfully taking $34.87 million in fresh profits.
For the first quarter of the year, Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT) was able to rake in $289.5 million in revenues, having sold 3,778 Bitcoins. It ended the quarter with 15,680 units, lower by 18 percent than 19,223 in the same period a year earlier.
Apart from the sale, Riot Platforms Inc. also mirrored the broader market optimism, thanks to a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran that pulled investors back into the market.
In other news, Riot Platforms Inc. last week announced a 4 percent drop in Bitcoin production for the first quarter of the year, ending the period at only 1,473 versus 1,530 in the same period in 2025.
Average daily production stood at 16.4, also lower by 4 percent than the 17 average in the same quarter year-on-year.
4. USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR)
USA Rare Earth soared by 14.62 percent on Wednesday to end at $16.78 apiece, as investors poured funds back into stocks tied to industries that the US government prioritized for strategic expansion.
The stock mimicked the wider market optimism, thanks to the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran that allayed fears for worst-case scenarios for the global economy and sparked optimism for lower crude oil prices amid the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz—a critical waterway where 20 percent of global crude oil shipments pass through.
It can be recalled that the Strait was ordered shut under Iranian control since the war began, sending prices of global crude oil soaring as shipping firms looked for alternative pathways to transport oil.
Ceasefire aside, USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) was among the favored stocks during the day, supported by strong confidence amid a flurry of positive developments recently, including the official commissioning of a large magnet facility, as well as the US government’s financial backing to help ramp up its expansion.
Late last month, USA Rare Earth Inc. officially kicked off the commercial operations of the first phase of its magnet facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, allowing for the successful fulfillment of orders for sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) permanent magnets.
Earlier this year, it secured a $1.6 billion backing from the US government, including $277 million in proposed federal funding and $1.3 billion in senior secured loan.
3. Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT)
Hut 8 grew its share prices for a 6th consecutive day on Wednesday, as investor sentiment was fueled by the easing tensions in the Middle East that allayed fears for worst-case scenarios for the global economy.
This followed the US and Iran’s announcement on Tuesday that they have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, paving the way for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure sent crude oil prices soaring globally over the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Hut 8 Corp.’s (NASDAQ:HUT) rally was supported by investor optimism for companies tied to the US government’s priority industries, such as AI, rare earths, and semiconductors, among others.
For its part, Hut 8 Corp. is underway with the development of a $10 billion data center called River Bend with a designed 245 MW of power capacity.
Late last month, the company earned bullish coverage from Arete Research, issuing a “buy” recommendation and a $136 price target for the stock on optimism that Hut 8 Corp. would largely benefit from River Bend.
In December last year, Hut 8 Corp. inked a 15-year leasing deal with Google, which has the potential to generate up to $17.7 billion in revenues if and when the latter exercises all its renewal options.
The base term covers 245 MW of IT capacity for Fluidstack, for $7.7 billion. It also gives the latter the right of first offer for 1,000 MW of capacity in the campus’s future expansion.
2. AXT Inc. (NASDQ:AXTI)
AXT rallied for a second day on Wednesday, climbing 16.98 percent to close at $53.18 apiece, as investors loaded portfolios ahead of the release of its earnings performance for the first quarter of the year.
In a notice on its website, AXT Inc. (NASDQ:AXTI) said that it would announce its financial and operating highlights for the last quarter after market close on April 30, 2026. A conference call will be held to elaborate on the results.
The rally was further supported by the company’s earlier optimism that it would post sequential growth for the said period amid the progress in its export permits, which it failed to secure in the fourth quarter of 2025.
AXT Inc. (NASDQ:AXTI) also underscored the strong demand for indium phosphide—a high-performance semiconductor primarily used for high-speed electronics, optoelectronics, and photonics, and is crucial for various industries, including fiber optic communications, mobile networks, automotive lidars, and laser technologies, among others—as data center operators continue with their AI infrastructure build-out.
“We are in a strong position to achieve sequential revenue growth in Q1, driven primarily by growth in indium phosphide for the AI infrastructure build-out,” AXT Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) CEO Morris Young said.
“We are also on track to double our indium phosphide manufacturing capacity this year and have a strong balance sheet to support our continued business expansion,” he noted.
Last year, AXT Inc. widened its attributable net loss by 83 percent to $21.26 million from $11.6 million in 2024. Revenues also declined by 11 percent to $88 million from $99 million year-on-year.
In the fourth quarter alone, attributable net loss narrowed by 31 percent to $3.5 million from $5.09 million, while revenues dropped by 8 percent to $23 million from $25 million.
1. Aehr Test Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:AEHR)
Aehr Test Systems soared to a fresh all-time high on Wednesday after posting an optimistic outlook for its business, thanks to a strong demand for its testing technology from semiconductor giants.
In intra-day trading, the stock climbed to its highest price of $66.28 before trimming gains to finish the session just up by 25.69 percent at $63.16 apiece.
In a statement during Aehr Test Systems Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AEHR) earnings call, President and CEO Gayn Erickson announced big wins, including a new major customer for its high-power FOX-XP WLBI system for devices aimed at the hyperscale data center optical interconnect market.
Erickson said that the new customer is currently developing advanced silicon photonics–based transceivers for data center networking and optical I/O applications to address the rapidly accelerating demand for high-speed fiber optic communication links in hyperscale AI and cloud data centers.
“We believe this win positions Aehr to participate in what could be a significant multiyear expansion of silicon photonics production driven by the growth of fiber optic interconnects in hyperscale AI data centers,” he said.
Additionally, Aehr Test Systems Inc. bagged a new contract with a major AI customer for multiple testing machines for use in data centers, as well as a large data center customer testing its system to test custom AI chips at scale.
It said that the latter tapped Aehr Test Systems Inc. for its next-generation chips, translating to more future orders.
In other news, the company widened its net loss in the last quarter ending February 2026 by 398 percent to $3.2 million from only $643,000 in the same period a year earlier. Revenues also decreased by 43.7 percent to $10.3 million from $18.3 million year-on-year.
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