Most investors understand that investing in stocks isn't a get-rich-quick endeavor. Although the market is the most reliable and rewarding means of using capital to build real wealth, it can take years -- even decades -- to fully reap those rewards.
Sometimes, though, a ticker simply takes flight, dishing out enormous gains in a surprisingly short period of time. In some cases, they'll even quadruple or quintuple your investment (if not more) in a matter of weeks. While this certainly isn't the norm, it's still worth a closer look to see what lit a fire under these names, and maybe figure out if these tickers can repeat the feat, or identify related stocks that may be about to do the same.
To this end, here's a closer look at five of this year's most rewarding names. Had you invested $5,000 in each of them at the beginning of the year, you'd be sitting on more than $136,000 today.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Oklo
If this year will be remembered for anything (other than the ongoing proliferation of artificial intelligence, or AI), 2025 may well be remembered as the year that nuclear power became marketable again. The world needs more electricity, and it needs it now. It can't wait for clean alternative energy sources to be built and come online, though. Nuclear is proven, and ready to go.
That's what Oklo (OKLO 6.62%) brings to the table, but with an important twist.
Like NuScale Power, Kairos Power, and a handful of others, Oklo is working on small modular reactors with a small footprint that can be built and operated near where their power is consumed. Unlike Kairos, NuScale, and their peers, though, Oklo's fast-neutron reactor design is not only far more efficient than more traditional water-cooled nuclear power plants, but can even be powered by used nuclear fuel (including its own). Its reactors are also safer, since their default status is simply to slow the reaction down if it grows too hot.
Oklo stock is up 631% this year, despite its recent lull.
2. Centrus Energy
Oklo isn't the only stock to soar in 2025 due to the rekindled interest in nuclear power. Centrus Energy (LEU -2.21%) is up 517% for the same reason.
Well, not quite the exact same reason. Whereas Oklo designs and manufactures nuclear power technology, Centrus finds the fuel needed to make them work. Last year, it sold $442 million worth of uranium, up 38% year over year. And that's despite a sizable setback in uranium prices over the course of 2024.
Analysts expect this profitable company to report revenue of $462 million this year, followed by a top line of $506 million in 2026, boosted by the renewed growth of the nuclear power industry.
3. Opendoor Technologies
To say it's been an up-and-down year for real estate and its related stocks would be a considerable understatement. It's been a downright raucous roller-coaster ride. Real estate listing website Opendoor Technologies (OPEN -7.06%) has been no exception to this volatility.
It's still been a mostly bullish ride for this stock, though, which is now up 380% year to date, with all of that gain (and then some) taking shape just since June.
Credit an unexpected recovery of real estate purchases in July, mostly, although that alone didn't do most of the heavy lifting. Home sales weren't even all that impressive that month, in fact. However, they were good enough to stir up bullish speculation that a recovery was in the offing. Then that buzz took on a life of its own, turning Opendoor into a full-blown meme stock by virtue of comparing it to used car-selling platform Carvana.
4. Forward Industries
Forward Industries (FORD -15.32%) may be the least familiar name of the five mega-winners in focus here, which makes its 334% rally this year all the more impressive.
The company is self-described as a "seamlessly integrated, worldwide design and manufacturing sourcing group," which still doesn't tell you much. It would be far more helpful to explain that Forward Industries helps other companies design products, figure out the best way of manufacturing them, and then optimize their delivery. It serves customers in industries ranging from retail to technology to medicine, and more. Last year, it did $32 million worth of business.
The fact is, however, the bulk of this year's big gain has mostly been spurred by the company's foray into the blockchain business, by virtue of becoming a leading treasury of the Solana blockchain revolution. While it's not the only outfit to get behind the fastest and highly scalable blockchain technology, Forward Industries is well-positioned to do something useful with it.
5. MP Materials
Finally, add MP Materials (MP 8.69%) to your list of 2025 mega-winners nobody saw coming.
MP Materials is a rare earth miner and refiner. It's the United States' biggest -- and only integrated -- producer of the highly magnetic material required by electric vehicles, in fact, sitting on the massive stash of these crucial metals at Mountain Pass, California. Indeed, the site accounts for roughly one-tenth of the world's entire supply of rare earths.
This alone wouldn't suddenly spur a 414% gain from the stock, of course. Driving most of this move was a major deal with the Department of Defense inked in July, and its new $500 million developmental partnership with Apple forged the very same month. Although it will take years for these agreements to reach their full revenue potential for the currently unprofitable company, the scope, size, and stature of these deals underscore just how important rare earth magnets are becoming to modern industry and technologies.
Where should investors put their money?
As thrilling as these gains may be, it seems unlikely any of these stocks will repeat the feat in the year ahead. Most of these moves were spurred by unexpected news, which seems to have run its course.
Still, the underpinnings of these big bullish moves appear to be long-term in nature. All five stocks could still march higher, even if another triple-digit gain isn't in the cards.
That said, you might be better served by looking for similar or adjacent tickers that have not yet benefited from these underlying trends, but soon could. Nuclear power and rare earth minerals look like particularly strong growth opportunities from here.
