Stock FAQs

why gamestop stock so high

by Rosalinda Sauer Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

The GameStop surge is making headlines because it’s being driven by retail investors — individuals who buy and sell stocks for their own gains, as opposed to professional investors working on Wall Street — on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets (WSB), a community 2.9 million-strong that refers to members as “degenerates” and idolizes Elon Musk.

The Ape Buzz Continues. Since GameStop investors kicked off the meme stock frenzy in early 2021, share prices have remained sky high. That's because the GameStop "apes" — as members of meme stocks' cult-like followings are called — are stubbornly holding onto the stock.Mar 30, 2022

Full Answer

Why did the price of GameStop stocks jump so suddenly?

12 hours ago · Shares of GameStop ( GME 9.52%) are whipsawing Thursday on no company-specific news, but its fellow meme stock AMC Entertainment ( AMC 5.06%) also roared ahead and then fell back. GameStop stock ...

Will GameStop Squeeze again?

Oct 11, 2021 · Shares of GameStop ( GME-0.16%) are running 6.6% higher in morning trading Monday on no news particular to the video game retailer, though its stock remains one of the most mentioned tickers in ...

Why is GameStop stock going up?

Jun 22, 2021 · GME stock is up over 4,000 percent over the last year and is outperforming the S&P 500. While GME stock is down over 59 percent from its 52-week high of $483, it's still up 964 percent YTD. GME ...

How high could GameStop go?

That Tweet electrified the crowd, and additional buys came pouring in. GameStop soared as high as $500 per share in after-market trading, and the overall volume was so heavy that large platforms like TD Ameritrade reported their technology was …

image

Is Rich a Fool?

Rich has been a Fool since 1998 and writing for the site since 2004. After 20 years of patrolling the mean streets of suburbia, he hung up his badge and gun to take up a pen full time. Having made the streets safe for Truth, Justice, and Krispy Kreme donuts, he now patrols the markets looking for companies he can lock up as long-term holdings in a portfolio. His coverage reflects his passion for motorcycles, booze, and guns (though not enjoyed all at the same time...usually), but his writing also covers the broader sectors of consumer goods, technology, and industrials. So follow along as he tries to break down complex topics to make them more understandable and useful to the average investor. Have a story idea? Contact Rich here. I may not be able to respond to every suggestion, but I do read them all! Think an article needs a correction? Reach Rich here.

Does Rich Duprey have a position in any of the stocks mentioned?

Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Is GameStop a meme?

GameStop was, of course, one of the original so-called meme stocks that elevated the stock's market value earlier this year, and though it has pulled back from those early highs, small retail investors remain committed to its turnaround.

Who owns GameStop stock?

Despite GameStop’s bleak outlook, last year a well-known investor named Ryan Cohen increased his holdings of GameStop stock to more than 10% of the company, with hopes of transforming the mainly physical retailer into more of an online player.

How much is GameStop stock worth in 2021?

GameStop stock rose from $17.25 on the first trading day of 2021 to $347.51 earlier this week. That’s an increase of about 1,900%.

How much did GameStop lose in 2020?

The company had a net loss of $18.8 million, or 0.29 per share. As a result of results like that, GameStop stock had been drifting lower for years. It was around $56 a share in late 2013, but had fallen to under $4 by March of 2020. Of course, that was before the massive surge.

What hedge fund lost money on GameStop?

In fact, one hedge fund called Melvin Capital lost so much money on its GameStop short positions that it needed a capital infusion of nearly $3 billion to shore up its finances. And GameStop isn’t the only stock that has seen this kind of tug of war between retail investors and hedge funds lately. A few others include:

How many stores does GameStop have?

GameStop (NYSE: GME) is primarily a bricks-and-mortar video game retailer with more than 5,000 stores. But this business model is frowned upon by many in the investment community due to both long-term and short-term factors. Long-term, fewer and fewer gamers actually journey out to physical stores to purchase their games.

Is GameStop a small company?

In addition, GameStop is by all accounts a small company when you look at its sales and earnings numbers. The retailer of video games is also struggling financially. Sales are falling at a 30% annual rate.

Did hedge funds bet against GameStop?

Several major hedge funds looked at GameStop’s books and decided that the company was doomed to fail eventually. So they bet against GameStop stock by shorting it. That means they borrowed the stock and sold it, hoping to buy it back later (and return it to the stock lender) after the stock price fell.

How much is GameStop worth?

About 71.66 million GameStop shares are currently being shorted and are worth about $4.66 billion. Year-to-date, those shorts have cost professional investors about $6.12 billion, which includes a loss of $2.79 billion on Monday. This is commonly referred to a “short squeeze” which happens when a stock jumps sharply higher, forcing traders who had bet that its price would fall, to buy it in order to forestall even greater losses.

Why did Amazon stock price skyrocket?

The company’s share price began to skyrocket as small investors snapped up a cheap stock using the trading app Robinhood and other services, jumping on what they saw as an ideal buying opportunity. On the other hand, Wall Street traders saw something else – a chance to “short” an ambitious bet against Amazon they believed was bound to fail.

How many times did the NYSE halt trading?

In fact, the instability of the situation caused the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to briefly halt trading nine times. “We broke it. We broke GME at open,” one Reddit user wrote on Monday after the NYSE halted trading.

How many shares does Michael Burry own?

Hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who reported holding 1.7 million shares of the stock at the end of September, said in a now-deleted tweet that the rise was “unnatural, insane, and dangerous.” Burry also told Bloomberg News that he did not have a current long or short position in the stock.

Is GameStop speculative?

GameStop’s rapid rise has drawn comparisons to speculative trading during the tech bubble of the late 1990s and led many Wall Street veterans to warn investors about the potential for significant losses. William Galvin, Massachusetts’ top securities regulator, told Barron’s that the trading in GameStop could be “systemically wrong”.

Is shorting a stock risky?

Shorting a stock is risky. It involves “borrowing” a company’s shares and selling them with the intention of buying them back cheaper when the share price falls. Many Wall Street fortunes have been made this way, but if the price doesn’t fall, the losses can be huge.

Is GameStop a cult stock?

The strange saga of GameStop’s cult stock status can be traced back to last September , when Ryan Cohen – investor & founder of the online pet food giant Chewy – took a 13% stake in the company and started urging it to move more of its business online and become a serious rival to Amazon. Cohen and two associates were added to the company’s board in January.

Is GameStop a mall?

Not only does high-speed Internet make it possible for gamers to download the latest titles directly to their consoles, rendering much of GameStop’s business model archaic, but the chain is also a heavily mall-based business, and malls are, well, not doing great. GameStop has held on in part thanks to its business in used-games (which are cheaper, and which you can’t simply download) and because of high demand for the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles (for which GameStop is one of only a handful of approved retailers). That Ryan Cohen, co-founder of e-commerce darling Chewy, joined the board this month is also a reason for optimism. But overall, GameStop is running out of extra lives, its batteries are dying, and its parents are telling it to go to bed because it’s got school in the morning.

Is GameStop running out of batteries?

But overall, GameStop is running out of extra lives, its batteries are dying, and its parents are telling it to go to bed because it’s got school in the morning. Sorry, the video player failed to load. (Error Code: 100013) The seeming inevitability of GameStop’s demise made it an obvious target for short sellers.

Who owns GameStop?

Ryan Cohen, an activist investor, owns a 13 percent stake in GameStop. Cohen plans to turnaround the video-game retailer into an e-commerce powerhouse from brick-and-retail stores. On June 21, GameStop added its new CEO Matt Furlong to its board. Source: GameStop Facebook.

Why are meme stocks at the market?

At-the-market offerings have been used by meme stocks to raise funds because they target retail investors who have been pushing up share prices in the open market. Over the last few weeks, AMC Entertainment, Express, Novavax, and Castor Maritime have also raised funds through at-the-market offerings.

How much did GME sell for Jefferies?

The video game retailer sold 5 million shares for a total of $1.1 billion through Jefferies.

When will GME stock be added to the Russell 1000?

GME stock remains the hottest and most discussed stock on Reddit groups. On June 25 , GME stock will be added to the Russell 1000 Index of companies. That would require ETFs and mutual funds that track the index to buy GME stock, which would likely drive up the price.

Is GameStop closing?

A hedge fund that bet against GameStop was forced to close after suffering huge los ses as a result of a buying frenzy in the video game retailer’s shares in January. On June 21, Financial Times reported that White Square Capital will shut its main fund and return its capital.

Is GameStop stock up in 2021?

GameStop (GME) is one of the Reddit-fueled meme stocks that has skyrocketed in 2021. Despite a significant drop after June 9, it's still up 964 percent YTD. The stock gained 8 percent in the pre-market trading session on June 22. Why is GME stock rising and how high can it go?

What forum was integral to the rise of GameStop stock?

The Reddit forum WallStreetBets was integral to the rise of GameStop stock.

Why did Robinhood decide to stop trading?

In an attempt to rehabilitate its image, Robinhood attempted to explain that the decision was strictly based on financial distress. The volume of trades exhausted Robinhood’s resources, and trading had to be restricted to stay in compliance with regulatory requirements.

Did hedge funds lose billions on GameStop?

Hedge funds lost billions after betting that GameStop prices would go down, and the market as a whole had its worst week since October 2020. Retail trades were coming in so quickly that commission-free investing platform Robinhood had to limit buys for many of its members, prompting furious responses – and at least a dozen lawsuits. ...

Did the news agencies keep up with GameStop?

News agencies couldn’t keep up with the action, and social media was saturated with GameStop-related chatter. Even members of Congress weighed in as the drama unfolded.

Does Robinhood sell GameStop shares?

Robinhood removed the option for members to purchase more GameStop shares, along with a list of approximately 50 other popular stocks. In some cases, members reported that Robinhood forced the sale of their shares or cancelled outstanding orders.

Who is the CEO of GameStop?

The company also declined to provide guidance for 2021. GameStop CEO George Sherman tried to highlight some positives in the earnings report, saying, "I am proud of how our entire organization came together in 2020 to adapt to the challenging pandemic environment, effectively serve our customers' demand for gaming and entertainment products, ...

Who is the chief operating officer of GameStop?

Following the release of the earnings report, GameStop announced that Jenna Owens (previously Amazon's director and general manager for distribution and multi-channel fulfillment) has been hired to be GameStop's new chief operating officer.

Is GameStop stock still high?

So yes, GameStop stock is still high--$181.75 per share at the end of Tuesday--but that's most likely still a result of other factors, not just the performance of the business. In after-hours trading, the share price rose to $197 before dropping to $161 at the time of this writing.

Is GameStop stock higher than 2021?

Following the Reddit-influenced Wall Street battle over GameStop's share value earlier this year, GameStop stock currently stands nearly 10 times higher than where it started in 2021.

How much has GameStop increased in 2020?

GameStop’s weekly page views per million users spiked over the last several months, peaking at a 409% increase compared to January 2020. Today, it’s sitting at a 118% increase. These are impressive numbers for a company that was otherwise widely seen as in the midst of a long, slow decline.

Did GameStop make a big announcement?

So, no , GameStop did not make any big announcement or big change that would cause its stock to spike or rapidly climb the way it did today and in the past week. The rally was driven almost entirely by a community on Reddit called r/wallstreetbets.

Is GameStop a good company?

By most metrics, GameStop is not a company most people should invest in. For years now the company has been in a death spiral brought on by a shift in the way consumers purchase and play video games. Just like the advent and growth of streaming services has caused many to lament the end of the DVD, the rise of digital storefronts has led to a decline in the purchasing of physical game copies.

image
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9