The Nasdaq is home to many of the best growth stocks in the world. But to join the Nasdaq 100 index is particularly exclusive, since as the name implies, it contains the top 100 (nonfinancial) stocks on the exchange.

Palantir Technologies was the best-performing member of the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) in 2024. Its share price surged 340% last year as growing demand for its artificial intelligence platform excited investors.

Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) was one of the best-performing stocks of 2024. The analytics and software management platform for government agencies, the military, and big business soared 340% for the year and sports a market cap of $167 billion as of this writing.

Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock posted another month of strong gains in December's trading. The company closed out the period with its share price up 12.7%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.