The S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) index has climbed 7.73% in 2025. It's an impressive gain, and many are expecting the index could finish the year at an all-time high, but some of the stocks on the index have seen much higher growth.
Take Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) shares, for example. The company is a software-defined network (SDN) service provider that allows customers to connect between around 860 data centres globally. This means if a business has servers of cloud resources in different data centres in different countries, they can use Metaport's SDN to connect them together.
At the time of writing on Tuesday afternoon, Megaport shares are 0.85% lower and changing hands at $17.56 a piece.
But today's decline looks to be a tiny blip in an ever-growing stock. Over the past month the shares have climbed 11.42%. For the year to date, they've rocketed 136.19% higher. That's over 17 times higher than the index.
At the trading price at the time of writing, that means $10,000 invested in Megaport shares would be worth a huge $23,619 today.
What made the ASX 200 stock boom in 2025?
Megaport expanded its network presence in the first half of FY25. It added 82 new data centres and four new internet exchange locations. It also launched new products, such as the 100GB Megaport Cloud Routers and the NAT Gateway, demonstrating significant innovation.
The ASX 200 share has continued to scale quickly too. Its customer numbers are rapidly growing and it has an expanding global footprint.
This has helped Megaport underpin a strong recurring revenue growth. For example, in FY25, Megaport reported a 20% increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $243.8 million.
Can Megaport shares keep climbing?
Thanks to its exposure to cloud computing, general AI trends, and thirst for growth, the company is well-positioned for continued growth for the year ahead.
Analysts seem to be divided about the stock though. TradingView data shows that out of 17 analysts, 10 have a hold rating on the stock and the other 7 have a buy or strong buy rating. The maximum target price is $19.09, which represents a potential 9.68% upside, but the average is $15.64, which actually represents a 10.2% downside at the time of writing.
Macquarie is one of the more bullish brokers. It has an outperform rating on Megaport shares and a target price of $18.50. At the time of writing that implies a potential 5.4% upside over the next 12 months.
