We recently published a list of Gold, Biopharma Firms Dominate Friday’s 10 Top Performing Stocks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE:STM) stands against other Friday’s top performing stocks.

The stock market finished the trading week on a positive note, wiping out earlier losses on Friday, as investors weighed the escalating trade tensions between the US and China.

Having been battered this week, Wall Street’s major indices all finished in the green, led by the Nasdaq, up 2.06 percent, followed by the S&P 500 with 1.81 percent, and the Dow Jones with 1.56 percent.

Ten companies, predominantly under the mining and biopharmaceutical sectors, mimicked gains on the back of fresh industry catalysts that boosted buying appetite. In this article, let us explore Friday’s top performers and the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with a $2 billion market capitalization and $5 million trading volume.

A worker assembling the inner circuitry of a semiconductor product.

STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE:STM)

STMicroelectronics grew its share prices by 8.03 percent on Friday to finish at $20.45 apiece as investors cheered news that French Industry Minister Marc Ferracci backed the company’s chief executive officer amid allegations of insider trading.

In a post on social media platform X, Ferracci offered his full support to STM CEO Jean-Marc Chery after accusations made by Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti that Chery sold shares in STM a day before reporting the company’s negative results, adding that the CEO does not have the support of the Italian government.

In a statement on Thursday, STM clarified that Chery’s sales during the company’s blackout period prior to the results were made by its stock plan administrator through an automatic procedure.

Despite the claims, STM confirmed earlier this week that its planned investments at new facilities in Agrate and Catania were on track. The Agrate site is expected to double its production capacity by 2027.

Overall, STM ranks 9th on our list of Friday’s top performing stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of STM 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 as promising as STM 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.