With only two hours of trade left before Friday's closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 2.4% for the week despite the best lifting efforts of these three ASX 200 stocks.
Which outperforming companies am I talking about?
Read on!
ASX 200 stocks leaping higher despite this week's headwinds
Forget the potential of a looming AI stock market bubble. Or the fact that interest rates in Australia and the United States may not get any lower in the near or even medium term.
That's certainly the attitude of investors who've been piling into global pathology provider Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL) over the week.
The ASX 200 stock closed last Friday trading for $21.32. At the time of writing, shares are changing hands for $23.30 apiece. That sees the Sonic Healthcare share price up 9.3% for the week.
Sonic Healthcare shares closed up 6.8% on Thursday amid the company's annual general meeting (AGM).
Investors reacted positively after management reaffirmed the company's FY 2026 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) guidance to be in the range of $1.87 billion to $1.95 billion (on a constant currency basis).
At the higher end, that would represent 12.7% year-on-year earnings growth from the $1.73 billion EBITDA reported for FY 2025.
Sonic Healthcare also highlighted that year to date in FY 2026, statutory revenue is up 17% from the same period the prior year.
Moving on to the second ASX 200 stock marching higher despite the wider market malaise this week, we have property investment and funds manager Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC).
Charter Hall shares closed last week trading for $21.86. At the time of writing, shares are changing hands for $24.11 each. That sees the Charter Hall share price up 10.3% over the week.
Charter Hall also held its AGM on Thursday, with shares closing up 6.7% on the day.
Investors bid up the stock after the company upgraded guidance for full-year FY 2026 earnings per security (OEPS) to 95 cents. That's 5.6% above prior guidance of 90 cents per share.
Management credited the stronger earnings outlook to strong investment activity as well as increased revenue across core businesses.
Which brings us to…
Leading the pack this week
The top performing ASX 200 stock on my list for the week is asset management company GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG).
GQG Partners shares closed last week trading for $1.45 each. At the time of writing, shares are swapping hands for $1.63 apiece. This sees the GQG Partners share price up 12.4% in this week's slumping market.
The last price-sensitive news out from the ASX 200 stock was its October funds under management update, released on 12 November.
With GQG Partners shares still down more than 23% in 12 months, it looks like investors may be doing some bargain hunting this week.
