Nine stocks stood firmer on Wednesday, outperforming a lackluster performance on Wall Street, as investors took heart from positive news surrounding their respective industries.
Meanwhile, the three major indices all finished in the green, albeit only the Dow Jones posted significant gains, up 0.36 percent. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 rose marginally by 0.07 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.
In this article, we name the nine companies with the best performance and break down the reasons behind their gains.
To come up with the list, we considered the stocks with a market capitalization of $2 billion and 5 million shares in trading volume.
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9. NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO)
EV-maker NIO Inc. saw its share prices jump by 9.32 percent on Wednesday to close at $5.75 apiece, as investors cheered the official launch of its newest and largest sports utility vehicle (SUV) to date.
Called the ES9, NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) expects the new vehicle to redefine the benchmark for flagship SUVs, offering a signature design, exceptional space, advanced intelligence, refined comfort, and comprehensive safety. It features more than 40 industry-first technologies and nearly 40 class-leading configurations.
Pre-sales kicked off on April 9 and were officially launched on Wednesday.
Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming was tapped as the variant’s official ambassador to represent the SUV to highlight its spaciousness and luxury.
The rally can also be partly attributed to portfolio positioning ahead of its May vehicle delivery update on Monday, June 1, supported by the strong delivery figures from the first four months of the year.
In April alone, vehicle deliveries jumped by 22.8 percent year-on-year, albeit at a slower pace than the 136 percent growth in March, 57.6 percent in February, and 96.1 percent in January.
In other news, NIO Inc. is set to hold an annual shareholders’ meeting in Beijing on June 24 (June 23 EST). Investors are expected to watch for business updates and the outlook for the rest of the year.
8. Bath & Body Works Inc. (NYSE:BBWI)
Bath & Body Works climbed by 9.7 percent on Wednesday to end at $19.45 apiece after growing its profits in the first quarter of the year by 74 percent and beating net sales expectations.
In an updated report, Bath & Body Works Inc. said that net income stood at $183 million, versus the $105 million in the same period last year. Net sales finished at $1.378 billion, lower by 3 percent than the $1.424 billion in the same period last year, but ended better than its earlier guidance of a 4 to 6 percent decline.
Bath & Body Works Inc. CEO Daniel Heaf said that the performance may have exceeded earlier expectations, “but remains below the standard our brand is capable of delivering.”
“We believe that the foundation we are building will drive improved performance over time, with the impact expected to build through the balance of 2026 and more meaningfully into 2027, as we position the company to return to sustainable, durable growth,” he noted.
For the second quarter, Bath & Body Works Inc. is targeting net sales to decline by 3 to 5 percent from $1.549 billion in the second quarter of 2025. Earnings per diluted share are also expected to drop by 16.7 to 33 percent to a range of $0.20 to $0.25, compared with $0.30 year-on-year.
In other news, Bath & Body Works Inc. is underway with the search for a new Finance chief after Eva Boratto announced plans to step down from her post effective June 12 to pursue the same role at Cencora, a drug wholesale and distribution company.
Boratto will be temporarily replaced by Tom Javitch while the company searches for a permanent replacement.
7. Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS)
Cerebras snapped a four-day losing streak on Wednesday, jumping 10.42 percent to close at $266.90 apiece, after mirroring an investment firm’s shopping of its shares.
On May 20 and 22, Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest made another round of acquisition in shares of Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS), after its initial subscription to the latter’s initial public offering, bringing its total ownership in the latter to $35.5 million.
The rally builds on the ongoing rapid growth in the semiconductor sector amid the strong demand from the artificial intelligence industry.
Cerebras Systems Inc. is a newly-listed company that joined the Nasdaq exchange only last May 14.
During its IPO, it was able to raise $5.5 billion in fresh funds from its public offering, following the successful sale of 30 million shares at a price of $185 apiece.
Cerebras Systems Inc. said that it would use the proceeds to fund general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses, and capital expenditures.
The balance may also be used to in-license, acquire, or invest in complementary technologies, assets, businesses, or intellectual property, among others.
6. AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ:APP)
AppLovin climbed by 10.42 percent on Wednesday to close at $567.83 apiece, as investors took heart from Morgan Stanley’s reiteration of its bullish coverage and price target, implying a huge upside potential.
In a market note, the investment firm reaffirmed its overweight rating and $720 price target on shares of AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ:APP), representing a 27 percent upside from its latest closing price.
Morgan Stanley said that the coverage reflected its optimism that the company still holds a huge headroom for growth over the next few years, given its 10x conversion rate gap with market leaders.
It is also believed that AppLovin Corp. would be able to sustain above-market growth by continuing to expand its conversion rates, with 99 percent of its ads still not converting to sales.
In other news, AppLovin Corp. announced a strong earnings performance in the first quarter of the year, with net income more than doubling to $1.206 billion from only $576 million in the same period last year.
Revenues also came in at $1.842 billion, jumping 59 percent from the $1.159 billion in the same comparable period.
5. Ondas Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS)
Ondas Inc. saw its share prices climb by 10.54 percent on Wednesday to finish at $10.80 apiece, as investors positioned their portfolios ahead of its upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting.
According to the company, it is scheduled to hold its stockholders’ meeting on Thursday, May 28, pushing investors to load up on its shares as they await key business updates and outlook for the year.
Among the issues in focus are its planned acquisition of Omnisys Ltd., an Israeli developer of AI-powered Battle Resource Optimization software for multi-domain defense planning and real-time decision-making.
Ondas Inc. (NASDAQ:ONDS) said that the acquisition would mark a major milestone in its evolution into a software-defined defense technology company, with Omnisys’ platform expected to serve as a core orchestration layer across its growing autonomous systems portfolio, enabling mission planning, operational coordination, and real-time battlefield resource optimization across sensors, autonomous systems, and defense assets operating within complex mission environments.
In other news, Ondas Inc. reported a strong earnings performance in the first quarter of the year, having swung to a $361 million net income from the $14 million net loss in the same period last year.
Revenues soared by 1,093 percent to $50.12 million from $4.2 million year-on-year.
4. Shoals Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SHLS)
Shoals Technologies soared to a new two-year high on Wednesday following three straight days of gains, as investors took heart from its expansion program with the opening of a new $30 million mega facility in Portland, Tennessee.
In intra-day trading, Shoals Technologies Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SHLS) climbed to a record high of $12.50 before paring gains to end the session just up by 12.01 percent at $12.12 apiece.
Last week, the company announced that it officially opened the 638,000-square-foot facility in the said state, significantly expanding production capacity, increasing automation in production and packaging, and leveraging operational efficiencies to support increasing demand across the energy sector.
Shoals Technologies Group Inc. said that it programmed as much as $80 million in capital expenditures for the facility in a bid to strengthen its ability to deliver safe, efficient and reliable power infrastructure solutions across solar power, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and mission-critical facilities, including data centers.
“As demand for energy infrastructure continues to accelerate, this new Mega Facility allows Shoals to scale alongside our customers and meet the needs of a rapidly evolving energy landscape,” Shoals Technologies Group Inc. CEO Brandon Moss said.
“By expanding our domestic manufacturing footprint and bringing increased capacity, we are strengthening the American energy supply chain and enabling faster, more efficient energy deployment,” he noted.
3. IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN)
IREN Ltd. saw its share prices grow by 13.48 percent on Wednesday to close at $67.84 apiece, as investor sentiment was boosted by the successful acquisition of Nvidia Blackwell systems—a move expected to bolster its annualized run-rate revenues (ARR) to $4.4 billion.
In a statement, IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN) said that it entered into an agreement with Dell Technologies for the acquisition of the air-cooled systems for $1.6 billion, to service its previously announced five-year, $3.4-billion managed services AI cloud contract.
The company said that the Blackwell systems will be deployed across its existing data centers in Childress, Texas, with official commissioning targeted for early 2027.
The transaction, it said, forms part of its ongoing investment to accelerate time-to-compute.
“Securing capacity and accelerating commissioning are our top priorities in a market where time-to-compute is everything. Hyperscalers, enterprises, and developers choose IREN as a partner because we own and control the full stack—the physical infrastructure, the compute, and the operational capability to deploy at scale,” said IREN Ltd. co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts.
“Our relationship with Dell ensures access to hardware at the scale and speed the market demands. Every deployment we complete makes the next one faster, and that compounding execution advantage is what we are building,” he noted.
2. Intuitive Machines Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR)
Intuitive Machines soared by 15.72 percent on Wednesday to close at $40.34 apiece, as investors continued to load portfolios amid developments surrounding the space industry, still buoyed by SpaceX’s upcoming IPO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) ambitious Moon exploration program.
NASA is set to provide updates on the Artemis III mission at a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on June 9. It will also name the four astronauts assigned to the test flight.
Artemis III is set to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard the Orion spacecraft on the SLS rocket.
While Intuitive Machines Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR) is not directly involved in the said mission, the upcoming launch is expected to fuel broader optimism across the sector and create additional contract opportunities for key players in the industry.
In March this year, Intuitive Machines Inc. clinched a $180.4 million contract with NASA for the delivery of science and technology to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative and Artemis program.
The lunar delivery includes seven payloads—five of them NASA’s—and is expected to increase understanding of the chemical composition and structure of regolith, as well as the radiation environment in and around the South Pole region.
Further buoying sentiment was SpaceX’s widely anticipated public offering later this year, expected to be the largest offer so far in history, with an aim to raise $75 billion in fresh funds and a valuation close to $2 trillion.
The IPO has reinforced investor confidence in the long-term growth potential of the commercial space sector.
1. Qfin Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:QFIN)
Qfin Holdings saw its share prices climb by 25.02 percent to close at $15.74 apiece, as investors took heart from its stellar performance in the first quarter of the year, with profits more than doubling.
In an updated report, Qfin Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:QFIN) said that it was able to grow its net income attributable to shareholders by 104 percent to 1.8 billion yuan from 883 million yuan in the same period last year. Total revenues increased by 20 percent to 4.69 billion yuan from 3.9 billion yuan year-on-year.
“In the first quarter, the industry continued to undergo deep adjustments while regulations tightened further. Yet we withstood the pressure. Through proactive efforts to tighten our credit standards, optimize our loan portfolio, and streamline operations, we demonstrated strong resilience, achieving improved risk performance and other operational metrics. More importantly, as we expand our user base to serve more high-quality customers, we are building a more sustainable business model capable of navigating cycles,” Qfin Holdings Inc. CEO Haisheng Wu said.
“Looking ahead, near-term uncertainties are likely to persist, and industry participants continue to adjust operations to reflect the changing regulatory environment. However, as the industry landscape reshapes, we believe the entire ecosystem of the consumer finance market will become healthier and more efficient, which should be more conducive to our long-term development,” he noted.
For the second quarter, Qfin Holdings Inc. expects net income to end at 830 million to 910 million yuan, and non-GAAP net income of 900 million to 980 million yuan, or an implied decline of 47 to 51 percent year-on-year.
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