Ten stocks capped off the trading session with double-digit gains, mirroring a rally on the broader market, as investors generally shrugged off concerns of a government shutdown.
Of the 10 companies, five climbed to fresh all-time highs, buoyed by company-specific developments.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall Street’s gains, jumping 0.39 percent, followed by the Dow Jones with a 0.17 percent increase, and the S&P 500, up 0.06 percent.
In this article, we spotlight the names of the best-performing companies on Thursday and detail the reasons behind their strong performance.
To come up with the list, we focused exclusively on mid-cap stocks with more than $2 billion in market capitalization and 5 million shares in trading volume.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels
10. SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN)
SoundHound AI extended its winning streak to a third straight day on Thursday, jumping 10.46 percent to close at $17.84 apiece as investors cheered strong customer satisfaction for its AI software, Amelia.
In a statement, SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) said it was named a leader in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide General-Purpose Conversational AI Platforms 2025 Vendor Assessment for its AI software arm, Amelia.
According to the IDC, Amelia customers “[reported] strong satisfaction with the quality of Amelia’s voice AI, including AI-generated voice responses,” adding that they highly praised the product’s ability to handle complex requests, including those with multiple intents.
The IDC MarketScape added that large enterprises should consider SoundHound AI, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:SOUN) Amelia 7 platform if they are “looking for an installable or fully managed conversational AI platform with the ability to generate dynamic, ‘human-like’ responses and strong support for voice channels.”
Launched in May 2025, the Amelia 7 platform was one of the first conversational AI platforms to offer agentic capabilities to enterprise businesses. Its AI agents are capable of listening, reasoning, acting, and completing even complex multi-step tasks by orchestrating in fleets to achieve a particular goal.
With the platform’s Agentic+ framework, businesses can also leverage the reasoning and planning skills of LLMs in combination with deterministic flows, as well as human-in-the-loop.
9. Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO)
Oklo grew its share prices by 11.10 percent on Thursday, a second straight day, to finish at $128.80 apiece after it was named by the Department of Energy (DOE) as one of the four companies to build advanced nuclear power line projects.
In a statement on Tuesday, Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) said it was chosen by the DOE to help build and operate three fuel-fabrication facilities to support the deployment of advanced reactors. The three others were Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X, and Valar Atomics.
In August 2025, Oklo and its subsidiary, Atomic Alchemy, an innovator in radioisotope production, were selected for three of DOE’s 11 projects under the Reactor Pilot Program, after executive orders signed in May 2025 aimed at reinvigorating America’s nuclear energy industry.
The DOE project also followed Oklo Inc.’s (NYSE:OKLO) newly clinched projects last month, including a $1.68 billion fuel recycling facility as the first phase of an Advanced Fuel Center in Tennessee, and its first Aurora powerhouse at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho.
8. Bullish (NYSE:BLSH)
Bullish saw its share prices increase by 11.68 percent on Thursday to finish at $67.91 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of the upcoming launch of its cryptocurrency options trading.
In a statement, Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) said it would launch on October 8 a new crypto options trading platform for institutional customers, which will offer a comprehensive product suite encompassing spot, margin, perpetual futures, dated futures, and now, options.
At the launch date, Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) said 14 companies, including Galaxy Digital, would already start trading on the platform.
However, the company initially kicked off with Bitcoin options trading in a limited mobilization phase, with options for Ether, other assets, and multi-asset indices such as the CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 5 are already in the pipeline.
Since its launch in 2021, Bullish (NYSE:BLSH) said it has already surpassed $1.5 trillion in cumulative trading volume.
This year alone, the platform executes over $2 billion in average daily volume and ranks in the top ten exchanges by spot volume for Bitcoin and Ether.
7. D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS)
D-Wave Quantum soared to a new all-time high on Thursday, as investor sentiment was bolstered by significant improvements in police incident response after leveraging quantum computing technologies.
In intra-day trading, D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS) jumped to a new 52-week high of $29.61 before paring marginal gains to finish the day up by 13.97 percent at $29.21 apiece.
This followed announcements that the North Wales Police has significantly improved its response capabilities by 50 percent after leveraging its hybrid-quantum application to optimize the placement of police vehicles for emergency response, which resulted in a faster, more accurate, and efficient solution than classical methods alone.
The impressive results solidified optimism for the use of quantum computing technologies, once been dismissed by technology giant executives as a technology still far from practical use.
“As police forces increasingly rely on data-driven strategies to improve response times and coverage, hybrid-quantum computing can offer the speed, precision, and intelligence needed to identify optimal officer placements and enhance public safety,” said D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE:QBTS) CEO Alan Baratz.
“Hybrid-quantum computing is beginning to show real-world potential across private and public sectors, and we’re thrilled to see the potential for it to make a meaningful impact in forward deployment with North Wales Police,” he noted.
6. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT)
Sarepta Therapeutics extended its winning streak to a 5th consecutive day on Thursday, surging 15.68 percent to close at $22.35 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of the upcoming preliminary results for a drug clinical trial to treat myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).
Earlier this year, Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) said that it would announce “in the second half of the year” the preliminary results of the first phase of its clinical trial for SRP-1003 in patients with DM1, alongside other drug clinical trials for various diseases.
The first phase is being sponsored by SRP-1003’s original developer, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, which earlier acquired $174 million worth of stake in Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) through a privately negotiated block sale.
In addition to the purchase, Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) entered into an agreement with Arrowhead under which it will transfer to the latter another 2.66 million shares in satisfaction of a $50 million owed, which forms part of the $100 million milestone payment obligation.
5. Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL)
Circle Internet ended two straight days of losses on Thursday, jumping 16.03 percent to close at $149.72 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios after inking a partnership agreement with Deutsche Börse Group for the use of its stablecoins in the latter’s platform.
In a statement, Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) said the partnership would cover the listing and trading of its USDC and EURC stablecoins on Deutsche Börse’s digital exchange 3DX and Crypto Finance.
In addition, the collaboration will enable institutional-grade digital asset custody via Deutsche Börse Group’s post-trade business Clearstream, leveraging the German entity of Crypto Finance as sub-custodian.
“We’re planning to advance the use of regulated stablecoins across Europe’s market infrastructure—reducing settlement risk, lowering costs, and improving efficiency for banks, asset managers, and the wider market. As clear rules take hold across Europe, aligning our regulated stablecoins, EURC and USDC, with trusted venues will unlock new products and streamline workflows across trading, settlement, and custody,” said Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) Chairman and CEO Jeremy Allaire.
Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) was the first major global issuer to achieve compliance with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR), the world’s first comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency assets.
4. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)
AST SpaceMobile soared to a new all-time high on Thursday, after clinching an expanded partnership with Canadian firm Bell for the rollout of direct-to-cell satellite services next year.
In intra-day trading, AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) hit its highest 52-week price of $66.83 before trimming gains to close the day just up by $16.19 percent at $66.16 apiece.
This followed a report that AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) and Bell partnered to provide connectivity to the most rural and challenging geographies in Canada, as global space companies race to sign customers and major deals with cell carriers.
“What we’re intending to do in 2026 is start rolling out the service, and we would expect customer trials in that period,” Bell said.
The two firms kicked off their partnership when Bell’s subsidiary, Bell Ventures, invested in AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) in 2021.
Over the summer, Bell ran a successful test connecting a standard smartphone to a BlueBird satellite owned by AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS), and demonstrated video calling, broadband data, instant messaging and emergency alerts.
According to the Canadian firm, AST SpaceMobile, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ASTS) satellite service relies on lower spectrum bands, which enables a stronger and more reliable signal.
3. Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI)
Rigetti Computing soared to a fresh record high on Thursday, as investors continued to load up portfolios after securing $5.7 million worth of new orders for its Novera quantum computing system.
In a statement, Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) said that an Asian technology manufacturing company and a California-based applied physics and artificial intelligence startup placed orders for its 9-qubit Novera system—a new upgradeable quantum computer capable of solving complex computations and research. Delivery is targeted for the first half of 2026.
According to Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI), the Asian firm will leverage the system as a testbed to develop its own internal quantum computing expertise, while making it a benchmark to validate its own quantum computing technologies.
Meanwhile, the California startup would utilize the product for quantum hardware and error correction research.
Rigetti Computing Inc. (NASDAQ:RGTI) said the Novera quantum computing system is ideal for pursuing research to better understand key areas of quantum computing, including how qubits operate, optimizing control systems, testing design and characterizing gates, mitigating decoherence, and developing more efficient quantum algorithms.
2. USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR)
USA Rare Earth soared to a new all-time high on Thursday as investors repositioned portfolios after confirming talks with the US government for a potential partnership.
During the trading session, USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) soared to its highest 52-week price of $23.35 before paring gains to end the day just up by 23.36 percent at $22.71 apiece.
According to a report by CNBC quoting CEO Barbara Humpton, USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) was “in close communication” with the White House, and keeping it informed of its own plans.
This followed the latter’s 5-percent investment in Lithium Americas earlier this week, and another 5 percent in its flagship Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada. In July, the government also acquired a 15 percent investment in rare earth miner, MP Materials.
“This (rare earth supply chain) is a field where it will not be a zero-sum game,” Humpton said, adding that it’s going to take a lot of players to build out the marketplace.
USA Rare Earth, Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR) is currently developing a mine site in Sierra Blanca, Texas, and a magnet production facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
1. Ondas Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS)
Ondas Holdings climbed to a fresh record high on Thursday, after ramping up its defense market segment through the purchase of 500 Wasp drones from Norway-based Rift Dynamics to support its US defense market distribution.
Placed through its American Robotics subsidiary, Ondas Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS) Chairman and CEO Eric Brock said the first 500-unit order only marks the beginning of a scalable program to deliver affordable, operationally effective attritable drone systems to US defense customers.
American Robotics is the exclusive US distributor of the Wasp drone platform, which meets urgent DOW’s requirements for mass-affordable attritable systems.
Production of the initial order will be carried out by Kitron, a leading defense electronics manufacturer with facilities in the United States.
Kitron’s distributed network provides Rift and Ondas Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS) with the ability to rapidly scale to more than 20,000 units per month worldwide within six months of order.
Ondas Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS) said it expects to receive its initial deliveries in the fourth quarter of the year.
“Demand from the U.S. Department of War and allied defense forces for mass-affordable attritable platforms is accelerating, and the Wåsp is engineered to meet that requirement. Leveraging Rift’s NDAA-compliant design and Kitron’s proven global manufacturing expertise, Ondas is able to rapidly scale production and deliver thousands of units per month.”
While we acknowledge the potential of ONDS 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 ONDS and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and insiders. Please subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email below.
