Meme stocks were back in business Thursday, as investors bought up shares of GameStop, boosting other Reddit-favorite stocks along with it.
GameStop (GME) soared nearly 53% Thursday, lifted by investors’ hopes that a board overhaul could transform the video game store into a digital-first Amazon (AMZN) competitor. The company announced Tuesday that former Amazon (AMZN) fulfillment chief Jenna Owens would take over as GameStop (GME)’s chief operating officer.
The company also said that it would replace its chief financial officer and shrink its board to nine directors from the current 13. Eight of GameStop’s current directors will not seek reelection at the company’s annual meeting later this year.
The company’s stock has taken a pounding over the past few weeks – particularly on Wednesday, when GameStop tumbled 33% following its miserable earnings report. Although it highlighted a few bright spots, including exploding digital growth, overall sales and profit fell short of Wall Street expectations.
But the Reddit army on subreddit WallStreetBets is a mighty one, and they were hopeful that GameStop had been oversold. The company’s stock had plummeted 54% over the past two weeks, and they believe GameStop was getting cheap.
As shares of GameStop got a boost, so too did other chronically shorted meme stocks that redditors have sent on a wild ride this year. For example, AMC’s (AMC) stock was up 21% and Koss (KOSS) rose 57%. Macy’s (M) rose about 8%.
AMC had been beaten to a pulp earlier this week after Disney announced it would delay “Black Widow” yet again and then premiere the Marvel superhero film simultaneously on Disney+ and in theaters. The movie theater company’s stock had been down 35% this week.
Meme stocks soared as the broader market was having trouble figuring out what to do. The S&P 500 (SPX) was 0.5% higher, and the Dow (INDU) was up 199 points, or 0.6%. But tech lagged behind, with the Nasdaq (COMP) rising just 0.1% a day after it tumbled 2% on renewed fears about rising bond yields.
