Why Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (VKTX) Skyrocketed On Monday?

We recently published a list of Biotech Stocks Dominate Monday’s Top 10 Gainers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stands against other biotech stocks that dominate Monday’s top gainers.

The stock market kicked off the shortened trading week on a positive note, with Wall Street’s major indices finishing in the green following President Donald Trump’s temporary tax reprieve on technology companies.

The S&P 500 recorded the highest gain, up 0.79 percent, while the Dow Jones came second at 0.78 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was also up by 0.64 percent.

Benchmark indices aside, 10 companies dominated by biotechnology firms mirrored the broader market optimism, recording modest gains during the session.

In this article, let us explore Monday’s top 10 gainers and the reasons behind their gains.

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

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics Inc. saw its share prices jump by 10.58 percent on Monday to finish at $24.57 apiece following news that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) will discontinue the development of its oral obesity medication, danuglipron, amid safety concerns.

According to PFE, the decision came after a patient experienced a potential liver injury linked to the drug.

The scrapped plans, however, spelled good news for VKTX which is similarly underway with the development of an oral weight loss candidate called VK2735, with PFE now out of the competition.

In other news, reports surfaced last month that PFE was set to take over VKTX, and tapped Morgan Stanley as its advisor for the acquisition.

The rumors came days after VKTX 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.

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

Overall, VKTX ranks 5th on our list of biotech stocks that dominate Monday’s top gainers. While we acknowledge the potential of VKTX 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 more promising than VKTX 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.