The stock market has been a rollercoaster this year, marked by geopolitical tensions, trade wars, and shifting Federal Reserve policies that have left investors on edge. Yet certain stocks have delivered blockbuster gains, surging hundreds of percent or more on the back of AI hype, crypto rebounds, and tech breakthroughs. Sectors like quantum computing and data centers have led the charge, with shares rocketing as capital flooded in.
However, many of these winners have outpaced their underlying earnings and cash flows, prompting Wall Street to slap on price targets well below current levels — signaling potential pullbacks for overextended names. Still, not every high-flyer is overvalued. Nebius Group (NASDAQ:NBIS), D-Wave Quantum (NASDAQ:QBTS), and IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) have posted stellar runs, climbing 170% to 242% year-to-date. Analysts see more upside ahead, too, with targets implying at least 68% growth from here, betting on their roles in the AI and digital asset booms.
Nebius Group (NBIS)
Nebius Group has transformed into a pure-play AI cloud provider since its 2024 rebrand of Russia’s Yandex. Its stock has rocketed 242% in 2025, driven by explosive demand for GPU clusters amid the global AI rush.
Third-quarter revenue hit $146.1 million, up 355% year-over-year, fueled by major deals with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) to host their AI workloads. The company’s expansion in Finland and Kansas City has ramped capacity, targeting a $7 billion to $9 billion annualized run-rate by late 2026.
Investors piled in as Nebius positioned itself as a cost-effective alternative to hyperscalers like Amazon‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) AWS, with its full-stack platform drawing developers for easier AI deployment.
Analysts remain upbeat, with a consensus “Buy” rating from six firms and an average 12-month target of $159 per share — 68% above the recent $95 close. Citing Nebius’s edge in European data sovereignty, a $20 billion order backlog, and partnerships that lock in multi-year revenue, the company’s pivot to neutral infrastructure has eased concerns over its Russian pedigree.
Despite a seemingly high valuation, Nebius trades at a discount to its potential. With AI capex projected to hit $500 billion industry-wide in 2026, its execution could justify further gains, though volatility from funding needs warrants caution.
D-Wave Quantum (QBTS)
D-Wave Quantum has been a quantum computing standout, with shares up 170% this year after a string of commercial wins. The surge kicked off in Q1 with its Advantage2 system launch, which solved complex optimization problems faster than classical supercomputers — catching attention in logistics and pharma. Revenue has tripled in 2025, with gross margins improving over 1,500 basis points to 71.4%.
A key boost came from U.S. government contracts via Davidson Technologies, plus partnerships such as with Aramco,to optimize complex geophysical problems, such as subsurface imaging. As quantum hype met real-world applications, speculative buying pushed the stock from sub-$3 lows to over $22.
QBTS
Wall Street’s 11 analysts lean towards a “Strong Buy,” pegging a $37.58 per share average target — 70% above the $22.67 close, though Canaccord Genuity pushed its target this month to an industry high of $41 per share. D-Wave earns praise for its annealing technology’s potential for near-term revenue versus gate-model rivals like IonQ (NASDAQ:IONQ). The firm forecasts profitability by 2027 as enterprise pilots convert to sales.
D-Wave’s first-mover status in practical quantum tools gives it a moat, and with a $8 billion market cap, it’s reasonably valued versus hype-driven peers. Delays in scaling could sting, yet its 2025 momentum suggests room to run in a sector eyeing $10 billion by decade’s end.
IREN (IREN)
IREN has ridden Bitcoin‘s (CRYPTO:BTC) 2025 rally to a 387% gain, evolving from a pure miner into an AI data center operator. Shares exploded after hitting 40 exahashes per second (EH/s) hashrate in April and securing a 600 megawatt Texas grid deal for high-performance computing.
Fiscal first-quarter revenue topped $240 million, beating estimates on mining output and a landmark Microsoft GPU hosting pact. With Bitcoin above $90,000 again, Iris’s low-cost renewable energy (mostly hydro) delivered earnings of $1.08 per share, far exceeding forecasts.
Thirteen analysts rate it “Moderate Buy,” with a $81.38 per share target, implying 80% upside from $47.81. Roth Capital set a $94 target after the Microsoft deal, while Compass Point reiterated its buy rating and $105 target.
Although it trades for 20x sales, IREN’s price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) ratio is but just a small fraction, offering deep value in a frothy mining space. It blends Bitcoin upside with sticky AI revenue, positioning IREN for sustained growth as crypto and AI converge.