Why Exicure Inc. (XCUR) Soared on Monday

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Micro-, Small-Cap Companies Lead Monday's Charge. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR) stands against the other stocks.

The stock market ended the first trading day of the week in the negative territory, with all major indices recording hefty losses, as investors continued to digest the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and his criticism of the Federal Reserve.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell the hardest among the major indices, down 2.55 percent, followed by the Dow Jones at 2.48 percent, and the S&P 500 at 2.36 percent.

Meanwhile, 10 companies bucked a broader market bloodbath, recording strong gains during the day. We have listed the 10 top-performing companies, dominated by micro- to small-cap stocks, and detailed the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with less than $1 billion in market capitalization.

Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR)

Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR) snapped a three-day losing streak on Monday, surging 27.68 percent to close at $11.30 apiece as investors resorted to bargain-hunting to take advantage of its cheap valuations.

Additionally, investors digested news that Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR), through its subsidiary, GPCR Therapeutics USA, was nearing completion of the phase 2 study of GPC-100 in Multiple Myeloma. This followed the successful dosing of the 19th patient to evaluate the efficacy of GPC-100 (burixafor) in mobilizing stem cells in multiple myeloma (MM) patients undergoing autologous stem cell transplant.

“Preliminary results are encouraging, with 100 percent of patients achieving the primary endpoint of successful CD34+ stem cell mobilization, including patients previously treated with daratumumab,” XCUR said.

The trial is expected to finish patient recruitment by the end of the month.

Exicure Inc. (NASDAQ:XCUR) has historically been an early-stage biotechnology company focused on developing nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid against validated targets. Following its restructuring and suspension of clinical and development activities, the company said it is now exploring strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value.

Overall XCUR ranks 10th on our list of Monday's top performers. While we acknowledge the potential of XCUR 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 XCUR but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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