The next GameStop? 38 heavily shorted stocks that retail investors could target next, according to Goldman Sachs

what is the next gamestop

“In the last three months, a basket containing the 50 Russell 3000 stocks with market caps above $1 billion and the largest short interest as a share of float has rallied by 98%.” The meme stock trading frenzy has suddenly sprung back to life, with shares in GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC) blasting higher thanks to … well, let’s call it speculative enthusiasm on social media. In 2021, the surge in trading was driven in part by investors’ attempt to achieve a short squeeze.

Shares of the movie theater chain AMC, another pandemic-era meme stock, vaulted more than 10% on Monday morning. Shares of GameStop climbed more than 75% in early trading on Monday, triggering a halt in markets multiple times on account of the volatility. The rally softened over the ensuing hours, but the price remained up 30% into the late morning. What sets this case apart is all the communication going on between investors on Reddit, as they goad each other to push GameStop higher, said Chester Spatt, a former chief economist at the SEC and a finance professor Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. But he said it’s difficult to declare it a clear case of market manipulation. Enthusiasm has grown for GameStop’s prospects after the company said earlier this month that a co-founder of Chewy, the online seller of pet supplies, was joining its board.

GameStop Earnings on Deck

Short interest can lead to a short squeeze, which has propelled several big GameStop moves in the past. The return on highly shorted stocks is currently the highest ever recorded, he said. Still, the rally of heavily shorted stocks has taken place against a “backdrop of very low levels of aggregate short interest,” he added, though noted there could still be significant losses for hedge funds. When a stock is very heavily shorted, a rise in its price can force short sellers to get out of their bets. To do that, they have to buy the stock, which pushes the stock even higher and can create a feedback loop.

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The stock surged as much as 75% in early trading on Monday. On the other hand, GameStop has been relatively clear about its finances and business outlook. The company has kept top-tier auditor Deloitte & Touche since 2013 and frequently updates shareholders in its detailed earnings calls. CEO Matt Furlong is refreshingly straightforward about GameStop’s prospects. For investors unfamiliar with Troika and TRKA stock, here’s a quick summary.

Nonetheless, shares of GameStop are up about 33% this year. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services. Bram Berkowitz has no position in the best day of the week to buy stocks any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. GameStop is the pioneer of the meme-stock movement that took 2021 by storm, so the stock is heavily susceptible to big random moves up and down. “In recent years elevated crowding, low turnover, and high concentration have been consistent patterns, boosting the risk that one fund’s unwind could snowball through the market,” Kostin wrote.

Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC), another meme favorite, were also rising late Friday. “Roaring Kitty” is back, and meme stock investors are once again the beneficiaries. Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through our premium investing solutions, free guidance and market analysis on Fool.com, top-rated podcasts, and non-profit The Motley Fool Foundation. A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor’s Business Daily, among other publications.

what is the next gamestop

Under that scenario, investors drive a sudden spike in the price, forcing a surge of additional share purchases from others who want to cover their previous bet that the price would team development fall. Other heavily shorted stocks have been seeing a surge of interest recently as investors look for the next GameStop. American Airlines, BlackBerry and other formerly downtrodden stocks have had extreme swings in price this week. To get a sense of where the next short squeeze candidate might come from, we’ve put together a table of the 15 stocks with the highest short interest by shares outstanding in the broad Russell 3000 Index, according to the latest data available from YCharts. Either way, it appears the retail raiding hordes are back. They are piling into stocks with high short interest – in other words, companies where many shares are being used to bet against the stock – with the intention of setting off a short squeeze.

Investors see Ryan Cohen helping GameStop’s digital transformation. But analysts still expect GameStop to keep losing money in its next fiscal year. Of course, these issues still seem tame compared to Vinco.

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More worrisome is the long-term shift by customers away from brick-and-mortar stores and toward buying games online. Troika Media Group is an acquisitions company that can trace its roots back to Roomlinx, a Nevada-based firm founded in 1998. Over the years, the entity would purchase everything from broadband companies to brand consultancies. It wasn’t particularly successful; the firm averaged a $9.4 million loss per year and required a steady stream of stock and debt issuances to fill the gap. The buzz around GameStop comes just days before the company is set to release its second-quarter financial report. It’s expected to post a year-over-year drop in revenue and a wider net loss.

what is the next gamestop

We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors in assessing our financial condition and results of operations. The diluted weighted-average shares outstanding used to calculate adjusted earnings per share may differ from GAAP weighted-average shares outstanding. Under GAAP, basic and diluted weighted-average shares outstanding are the same in periods where there is a net loss. The tax adjustments below for the 14 and 53 weeks ended February 3, 2024, respectively, include provisions for the tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments.

Should investors buy GameStop while it’s rising?

As GameStop’s short sellers have gotten squeezed this month, smaller and first-time investors have been egging each other on to to keep the momentum going. In a short sale, they borrow a share of GameStop and then sell it. Later, if the stock price does as they expect, they can buy the stock at a lower price and keep the difference. GameStop is one of the most heavily shorted stocks on Wall Street. “The past 25 years have witnessed a number of sharp short squeezes in the U.S. equity market, but none as extreme as has occurred recently,” Kostin wrote in the note, published on January 29.

Critics used to dismiss the moonshots for GameStop and others as a sideshow, saying the excess was confined to a few corners of the market. Sharp losses for short sellers may have pushed them to sell some of their other stock holdings to raise cash, and several investors say that contributed to Wednesday’s 2.6% slide for the S&P 500. But lately it’s been more about inflicting pain on short sellers, hedge funds and other big financial firms.

GameStop is likely moving higher as meme-stock and retail investors look for a big squeeze in what has been a depressed market. The stock hasn’t moved higher this week until today, so perhaps the new wallet offering is catching investor interest, although it’s likely more related to the buzz about short interest and the cost to trading strategy guides coupon codes borrow shares. The volume of shares being traded had risen to 5.26 million as of this writing, with recent volume averaging about 3.8 million shares. In a note to clients, Goldman chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin said there are still stocks with heavy bets built up against them from Wall Street investors who bet on stock’s decline by selling shares they don’t own.

  1. Still, the rally of heavily shorted stocks has taken place against a “backdrop of very low levels of aggregate short interest,” he added, though noted there could still be significant losses for hedge funds.
  2. But lately it’s been more about inflicting pain on short sellers, hedge funds and other big financial firms.
  3. The frenzy hit new heights Thursday when several trading platforms limited their customers from making certain trades with GameStop.
  4. Troika’s forward EV/EBITDA ratio sits at 3.1X, a figure usually only seen in private-market transactions.
  5. The rising short interest has also significantly increased the cost to borrow shares, which is typically done in the practice of short-selling.

Troika has yet to see a boardroom fight end in a hostile takeover. And TRKA stock shares have been non-compliant with Nasdaq listing requirements for far less time than beaten-down BBIG stock. Troika’s forward EV/EBITDA ratio sits at 3.1X, a figure usually only seen in private-market transactions. Even I once put a $4.70 pre-dilution value on the company. (To be fair, I also gave a 40% chance that Troika “runs off with all our money” and would be worth zero).