This is what you call a year-end rally.
Shares of wireless charging company Energous have more than tripled this week after the Federal Communications Commission certified the company's "power-at-a-distance" transmitter. The Energous WattUp Mid Field transmitter can charge smartphones, watches, smart speakers and all sorts of other gadgets at a range of up to three feet.
Energous attained FCC approval in time for next month's giant Consumer Electronics Show, where the company will be demonstrating its technology.
Energous now faces the challenge of getting the product into the market and convincing manufacturers to build its radio technology into future chips. Apple is using the competitive Qi wireless standard in its charging mat, which was announced in September.
But Energous is first to gain FCC clearance for midrange charging, and the company has partnered with Dialog Semiconductor as it seeks to find big-name distributors.
"Being first to market creates a meaningful competitive advantage to charging at a distance technologies," wrote William Gibson, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, in a note on Thursday. "Dialog acts as a validation point for the technology."
Gibson, who recommends buying the stock, raised his 12-month price target to $45.80. Energous rose 38 percent to $32.82 on Thursday, after jumping 168 percent the previous day. Heading into this week, the stock was trading at $8.83.
With a market value below $1 billion and a stock that's thinly traded (a few hundred thousand shares change hands on most days compared with over 25 million for Apple), volatility is to be expected. More than 42 million shares traded on Wednesday, followed by over 38 million on Thursday.
Energous is by far the biggest gainer in the Nasdaq Composite Index this week and for the month of December.
"In our opinion, it's all about execution and the number of devices using WattUp chips in 2018 and 2019."
WATCH: Energous shares hit after Apple goes with Qi wireless charging
