Emerging Stock Movers in Tech and Professional Services: Near-Term Growth Catalysts in Alight, Applied Digital, Pure Storage, WEBTOON, and Xerox

The tech and professional services sectors are undergoing rapid transformation, driven by AI adoption, digital infrastructure expansion, and evolving enterprise needs. As investors seek exposure to innovation and operational resilience, five companies-Alight, Applied Digital, Pure Storage, WEBTOON, and Xerox-stand out as emerging stock movers with compelling near-term growth catalysts. This analysis evaluates their strategic positioning and recent developments to identify investment opportunities.

Pure Storage: Capitalizing on AI-Driven Data Demand

Pure Storage (PSTH) is uniquely positioned to benefit from the surge in unstructured data generation, a critical input for AI model training and deployment. Analysts at Oppenheimer highlight the company's leadership in the all-flash array (AFA) market, where it holds a technological edge over competitors. This advantage, combined with expanding partnerships with tier-1 and tier-2 hyperscalers, is expected to drive new customer acquisitions and margin expansion. Oppenheimer's Outperform rating and $120 price target underscore confidence in Pure Storage's ability to scale its cloud-integrated storage solutions amid AI's infrastructure boom.

WEBTOON: Navigating Short-Term Ad Challenges for Long-Term Growth

Webtoon Entertainment (WEBTOON) faces near-term headwinds in its advertising segment, primarily due to reduced spending from a major Korean e-commerce client. However, the company's IP and Paid Content segments delivered an 8.7% year-over-year revenue increase to $378 million in Q3 2025, demonstrating resilience. Despite a net loss of $11.1 million for the quarter, Evercore ISI maintains an Outperform rating, citing strong liquidity (current ratio of 2.54) and long-term monetization potential. A lowered price target to $20 reflects short-term ad weakness but not the company's strategic strengths in global content expansion and platform innovation.

Applied Digital: Scaling AI-Centric Data Center Infrastructure

Applied Digital (AD) is emerging as a key player in the AI infrastructure race, securing a landmark 250MW lease with CoreWeave in North Dakota. This agreement, with an option to expand to 400MW, locks in $11 billion in contracted revenue over 15 years. The company's Polaris Forge 1 campus, a 100MW HPC facility, is slated for Q4 2025 completion, accelerating its ability to meet surging demand for AI compute power. Applied Digital's process optimization-reducing build times from 24 to 12–14 months-further enhances its competitive edge, enabling rapid deployment of large-scale projects.

Xerox: Leveraging Lexmark Integration and AI-Driven Efficiency

Xerox (XRX) is transforming its business through the successful integration of Lexmark, which has accelerated synergy targets to $300 million. The combined entity's IT Solutions division reported 12.4% pro forma revenue growth in Q3 2025, driven by cross-sell opportunities and AI-powered pipeline analytics. Xerox's expansion into the public sector and focus on AI-driven automation are mitigating challenges in the print hardware market, such as tariffs and funding uncertainties. Analysts note that Lexmark's global business services and unified data governance are streamlining operations, positioning Xerox for sustained growth.

Alight: AI-Driven Human Capital Innovation

Alight (ALIT) is redefining enterprise HR services through strategic AI partnerships and platform enhancements. Its collaboration with IBM to integrate Watson AI into benefits solutions is expected to streamline employee experiences and reduce operational complexity. Additionally, a partnership with MetLife to offer institutional income annuities expands Alight's work-life platform, targeting 12 million participants with secure retirement solutions. The company's generative AI-driven benefits enrollment tool further cements its leadership in cloud-based human capital management. Alight's top 5 rankings in Sapient Insights Group's HR Systems Survey for user experience and vendor satisfaction validate its market position and innovation trajectory.

Conclusion

The five companies analyzed here represent diverse yet complementary growth drivers in the tech and professional services sectors. Pure Storage and Applied Digital are capitalizing on AI infrastructure demand, while WEBTOON and Alight are leveraging content monetization and AI-driven platform innovation. Xerox's operational efficiency and cross-sector expansion provide a balanced approach to navigating macroeconomic challenges. Investors seeking exposure to near-term catalysts should prioritize these stocks based on their alignment with AI, digital transformation, and enterprise resilience.