We recently published an article titled Why These 15 E-Commerce Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) stands against the other e-commerce stocks.

The e-commerce sector has been on fire for a while in the post-COVID era, and while it did slow down a little along with most tech stocks, it has recovered significantly due to strong consumer demand. We’ve seen some players like Temu have explosive growth with cheap Chinese products flooding the U.S. market. And while there was a scare of De Minimis being ended, Trump has reinstated it. Moreover, U.S.-based e-commerce companies have also done well.

Global e-commerce sales are projected to hit $6.56 trillion this year and could grow even more in the coming years as AI improves logistics and supply chains. E-commerce companies are also expanding into fintech and cloud computing businesses.

If the broader market continues to do well in the coming quarters, this industry could deliver solid returns for investors. As such, it’s a good idea to look into the stocks spearheading the gains so far this year.

Methodology

For this article, I screened the top-performing e-commerce stocks year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

A close-up of a customer using the company's e-commerce platform whilst shopping online.

PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 85

PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) is an e-commerce company that owns Pinduoduo and Temu.

The stock is up significantly so far in 2025 as PDD reported a 44% year-over-year revenue growth in its latest earnings. Revenue reached RMB99.4 billion. Plus, gross profit margins remained robust. U.S.-China trade relations have also eased after Trump reinstated De Minimis exemptions. This means smaller Temu orders remain outside the scope of tariffs.

Besides Trump being softer on his tariffs policy, the company is also gaining from Temu moving a significant amount of its fulfillment operations to U.S.-based facilities. This would cut shipping costs and delivery times.

The consensus price target of $173.4 implies 46.17% upside.

PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) is up 23.74% year-to-date.

Overall PDD ranks 10th on our list of the e-commerce stocks that are skyrocketing so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of PDD 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 time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PDD but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

 

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks to Buy Now and Why These 15 Insurance Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far In 2025

 

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