Rumble (RUM 3.05%) stock posted gains in Monday's trading. The streaming and crypto player's share price closed out the day's trading up 3.3%, but had been up as much as 19.3% earlier in the session. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.25%) and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.30%) both dipped 0.3% on the day's trading.

Rumble stock rocketed out of the gates at the start of today's trading in response to speculative bets relating to some moves that the company is aiming to make in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. The gains faded as the day's trading progressed, but the stock still ended the session solidly in the green.

A chart line moving up over a hundred-dollar bill.

Image source: Getty Images.

Rumble stock rises on potential AI expansion play

Along with the second-quarter report that it published on Aug. 10, Rumble announced that it is interested in acquiring AI company Northern Data. The high-performance-computing (HPC) specialist has yet to signal that it's open to being acquired, and no valuation level has been set on Rumble's all-stock offer to acquire the company. Despite the shortage of information related to the potential buyout, investors showed signs of approval in today's trading and bid the streaming stock up to levels significantly exceeding yesterday's close.

What's next for Rumble?

While plays in the AI and cryptocurrency spaces could help boost valuation momentum, Rumble's recent quarterly results continue to raise questions about the company's outlook. The business posted a loss of $0.12 per share on sales of $25.08 million in the second quarter. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had called for a loss of $0.07 per share on sales of roughly $26.8 million.

Rumble closed out the quarter with an average of 51 million monthly active users (MAUs), down from 59 million MAUs in this year's first quarter and 53 million MAUs in Q2 2024. On the other hand, average revenue per user was actually up 24% year over year to $0.42.

On balance, Rumble streaming engagement and monetization still looks somewhat shaky -- and that puts added pressure on other growth initiatives.