We recently compiled a list of the 11 Most Promising New Technology Stocks According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) stands against the other most promising new technology stocks.
Are the Tariffs Impacting the IPO Market?
The stock market entered 2025 with much optimism, taking confidence from last year’s performance. Similar to the stock market, the US IPO market also entered 2025 well-positioned for a promising year. However, the uncertainty regarding the tariffs has led to a lot of volatility in both the stock market and the IPO market.
On March 27, White & Case released its insights on the US IPO market. The report highlighted that the US IPO showed steady gains due to stabilized gains and falling interest rates in the fourth quarter of 2024. Last year marked the second consecutive year of positive growth in US IPO proceeds, including the SPACs (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), as the proceeds reached $41.36 billion after growing 75% year-over-year. While the growth was impressive, it was still well below the pre-pandemic levels. In terms of the IPO counts, the number of IPOs grew from 154 in 2023 to 231 in 2024. The report also noted that the United States continued to lead the global IPO market by posting more than twice the level of proceeds as India, which is the second-largest IPO market by proceeds.
The progress from the last year was carried on into 2025 as figures from the January 2025 IPO were favorable compared to the same month last year. In January, the US saw 29 IPOs, up from 17, with deal values growing from $3.45 billion to $5.1 billion. Moreover, the pipeline figures showed that there were 57 pending IPOs in March 2025. The United States market is anticipating more technology and artificial intelligence companies to go IPO during the year. This is due to the massive joint investment through Stargate’s $100 billion reserve.
The report acknowledged the uncertainty and difficulty that new companies might be facing due to the tariffs. However, the overall economic policies of the administration are viewed as capital-friendly, thereby paving the way for more IPOs to be filed this year.
Our Methodology
To curate the list of 11 most promising new technology stocks according to analysts, we used the Finviz stock screener and CNN. Using the screener, we aggregated a list of technology stocks that have IPOed within the last 3 years. Next, we sourced the upside potential based on Wall Street analysts’ price target estimates for each stock from CNN and ranked the stocks in ascending order of this indicator. We have also added the hedge fund sentiment around each stock from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database. Please note that the data was recorded on May 13, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
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WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD)
Analyst Upside Potential: 138.73%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 2
WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) is a new technology company engaged in the development and commercialization of autonomous driving products and services. Its main products and services include Robotaxi, Robo-bus, Robo-van, Robo-weeper, and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems.
On May 2, WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) announced the launch of its first paid commercial Level-4 autonomous Robo-bus service in central Guangzhou. This marks the city’s first fare-charging autonomous bus line in its downtown core and a significant milestone toward mass commercialization of Level-4 autonomous vehicles. Management noted that the bus operates on a 13.6 km loop route.
The company is also expanding its footprint internationally with fully driverless commercial Robo-bus. Earlier on February 27, WeRide Inc. (NASDAQ:WRD) launched its first fully driverless commercial Robo-bus service in Europe through a partnership with beti, Renault Group, and Macif. During the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024, the company reported growing its product revenue from RMB 35.5 million to RMB 51.7 million, primarily driven by increased sales of Robo-taxis, Robo-sweepers and Robo-vans. The company ranks as one of the most promising new technology stock according to analysts.
Overall WRD ranks 1st on our list of the most promising new technology stocks according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of WRD as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WRD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, 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. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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