2025’s best-performing Minnesota public company stock is a biopharmaceutical firm with no revenue

The runaway winner among Minnesota-based public company stocks in 2025 was a company with no revenue but huge promise.

Plymouth-based Celcuity, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is developing a cancer-fighting drug. Positive clinical trial results this year boosted its stock to record heights.

In July, after announcing the clinical trial’s success, the stock shot up 167% in one day. Another announcement in October sent the stock up another 36%.

In total, the stock is up 663% this year as of its close on Dec. 30 of $99.92.

Celcuity has yet to produce revenue but investors are impressed with the progress its drug is making through the Food and Drug Administration approval process and the size of the potential commercial market when it gets approved.

Much larger companies can rarely grow as fast. The rise of its share price has increased the company’s market capitalization to $4.6 billion which is between Life Time Group Holdings and Polaris Inc.

Among the 62 Minnesota stocks that trade on major exchanges, 31 saw shares increase in 2025; 31 saw declines. Helped by big gains at the top, the average gain was 9.9%.

Celcuity’s drug, gedatolisib, targets include late-stage breast cancer tumors through a known but difficult-to-access pathway.

Celcuity CEO Brian Sullivan said earlier this year he hoped the company would get FDA approval for patient use of the drug sometime in 2026.

Minneapolis-based Tactile Medical also saw big returns following positive clinical trial results. Tactile Medical devices treat lymphedema, a secondary condition that causes inflammation after cancer treatments or other conditions.

The longitudinal study showing benefits of its advanced pneumatic compression device and better than expected financial results in the second and third quarters have drawn positive attention from analysts. Tactile Medical’s 71% total return was second-best among Minnesota stocks.

Tech-based companies led by the so-called Magnificent 7 continue to drive the overall stock market, and some Minnesota companies are surfing their waves, investing heavily in computer chips, artificial intelligence or the technology around data centers driving AI.

St. Louis Park-based nVent connects and protects electrical equipment and has been a big beneficiary of the data center buildout. The company’s liquid-cooling solutions for AI data centers are protecting the fast and hot-running chips at heart of those data centers.

Demand for nVent’s chiller distribution units used to keep those chips cool has led to expansion at its existing Hoffman plant in Anoka and a new 117,000-square-foot plant in Blaine scheduled to open in 2026.

APi Group is being rewarded for its growth. Revenue is expected to increase 12% to $7.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. Long term, company officials say the goal is to grow to $10 billion in revenue for the safety and specialty services company that serves segments including the semiconductor, advanced manufacturing and data center industries.

Besides C.H. Robinson, 3M and Medtronic are the only companies among Minnesota’s 10 largest to make the list of the 15 best total returns for 2025.

After negative returns in five of the last eight years, 3M’s shares had total returns of 46% in 2024 and 27% in 2025. It also is seeing growth in data center products.

The biggest declines this year were from SPS Commerce and SunOpta. SPS is facing a push from an activist investor because its share are down more than 50%. Anson Funds Management, a Toronto-based investment firm, wants leadership or ownership changes.