We recently published a list of Five Chinese Firms Dominate Friday’s Top 10 Gainers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Viking Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stands against the other friday’s top gainers.

The stock market suffered a bloodbath on Friday, with major indices posting whopping declines, as investors sold off positions for saver havens amid concerns about a slowing economy and sticky inflation.

The Dow Jones fell by 1.69 percent, the S&P declined by 1.71 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq nosedived by 2.20 percent.

Meanwhile, 10 stocks—predominantly Chinese firms—defied a broader market downturn, clocking in gains.

To come up with Friday’s best performers, we considered only the stocks with $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

A microbiologist in protective gear studying samples in a laboratory.

Viking Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics rose by 7.71 percent on Friday, ending the trading session at $34.07 apiece, as investor sentiment was fueled by renewed takeover speculations.

According to reports, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is setting its sights on VKTX for a potential takeover, and Morgan Stanley has been tapped as its advisor for the acquisition.

The rumors came days after the company released its earnings performance in the fourth quarter of the year, widening its net loss by 44 percent to $35.4 million from the $24.6 million in the same period a year earlier primarily due to the increase in research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses, partially offset by an increase in interest income.

Net loss for full-year 2024 also widened by 28 percent to $109.96 million from $85.895 million in 2023.

VKTX also earned lower price targets from two investment firms, with Maxim cutting its price target by 42 percent to $70 from $120, citing the company’s wider-than-expected loss per share in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Meanwhile, B. Riley also lowered its price target for VKTX to $96 from $109, representing an 11-percent cut, while keeping the “buy” rating on the shares.

Overall, VKTX ranks 4th on our list of friday’s top gainers. While we acknowledge the potential of VKTX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as VKTX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.