Mw Vanguard Group Increases Gamestop Position, Surpassing Ceo Ryan Cohen's Stake

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. shares are trading higher Wednesday. The company disclosed a debt retirement move in a SEC filing late Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know.

What To Know: After the market close on Tuesday, AMC filed a Form 8-K with the SEC detailing recent moves to extinguish debt.

The company said it entered into a series of privately negotiated agreements to retire $24.22 million in unsecured debt through 5.75% subordinated notes due 2025 between Nov. 8 and Nov. 12.

AMC said it repurchased and exchanged the debt with 5.79 million shares of the company’s common stock and $1.04 million of cash. The transaction aligns with AMC’s goal to reduce debt load through strategic share exchanges.

AMC shares are up about 11% over the past month. Recent strength may also be tied to a meme-stock resurgence. AMC often trades in sympathy with GameStop Inc. , which has been on the rise in recent weeks following a disclosure that Keith Gill, known as "Roaring Kitty," sold his stake in Chewy Inc. last month.

Gill is a well-known figure from the 2021 meme-stock phenomenon. He showed interest in Chewy stock earlier this year before dumping his stake in September. GameStop shares have been trending higher since the filing.

Chewy was Gill’s only other publicly known investment outside of GameStop. Retail investors are now speculating about the meme-stock trader’s next move, which may be sparking some renewed interest in AMC as well.

"Roaring Kitty" hasn’t shared a position update on social platforms since June when he posted a screenshot on Reddit showing he was holding approximately nine million shares of GameStop.

AMC Price Action: AMC entertainment shares were up 3.4% at $4.71 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

Stocks Explode Post-Election

Whether you agree with President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policies or not, one thing is certain: the conclusion of the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Wall Street has unleashed the “animal spirits.” To be fair, stocks have been on a tear since the bear market lows of 2022, boosted by a falling inflation rate, AI/data center spending, and a dovish federal reserve board. That said, whether it was because of more business-friendly policy expectations, less uncertainty, or a combination of both, the recent election threw gas on the fire.

Unleashing the Animal Spirits

You don’t have to look far to notice that the animal spirits are alive and well on Wall Street. Bitcoin and bitcoin proxies like MicroStrategy (MSTR) have gone on rampages higher. In fact, Bitcoin has flipped silver from a market cap perspective. Meanwhile,Tesla (TSLA) just capped its biggest 5-day rally in four years, the lagging ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) soared 16% in a week, and small caps have clawed their way back to all-time highs after a multi-year drought. Presently, the market is in risk-on mode, and risk-takers are being rewarded handsomely. Below are 2 “spec” meme stocks to consider:

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed (BZFD) is a left-leaning media organization recognized for crafting engaging content that often goes viral. The media platform combines pop culture trends and current events infused with humor and casual conversation styles that resonate with a younger demographic. BuzzFeed also delves into journalism, news coverage, and video content creation.

Vivek Takes a BuzzFeed Stake

BZFD has struggled since 2021, falling from nearly $60 to under a dollar at one point. However, former Republican presidential nominee, entrepreneur, and future Trump administration cabinet member Vivek Ramaswamy has injected life into the company by taking ~9% stake. In a letter to the BZFD board, Ramaswamy said, “BuzzFeed has lost its way. I own your stock because I believe BuzzFeed can still become a more valuable company than at its initial listing, but this requires a major shift in strategy.”

If anyone can turn around BZFD, it’s Ramaswamy. “Old media”, particularly left-wing media, has been losing viewership, with the latest evidence being Comcast (CMCSA) putting MSNBC up for sale. If Ramaswamy can inject some balance into it, it may have a positive impact. Ramaswamy is a best-selling author with strong connections to “new media” juggernauts like Tucker Carlson.

BZFD Breakout

After coiling for several weeks, BZFD shares are breaking out.

The latest trading session saw GameStop (GME) ending at $26.84, denoting a -1.54% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.29%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.86%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.09%.

Coming into today, shares of the video game retailer had gained 27.8% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Discretionary sector gained 6.91%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.3%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of GameStop in its upcoming earnings disclosure. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $900 million, down 16.54% from the prior-year quarter.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $0.01 per share and a revenue of $4.03 billion, indicating changes of -83.33% and -23.57%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for GameStop. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. As of now, GameStop holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, GameStop is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 2726. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 24.2 of its industry.

The Gaming industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 148, placing it within the bottom 42% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Zacks Investment Research

GameStop Corp. , SoFi Technologies, Inc. , Tesla, Inc. , Cassava Sciences, Inc. and Anavex Life Sciences Corp. are the top five trending tickers on Stocktwits Friday. Here’s a look at what grabbed retail investors’ attention.

GME GM-Meme: GameStop tops the list this week. The stock moved on heavy volume and zero fundamentals Friday, as the original meme-stock tends to do. Keith Gill, a.k.a. Roaring Kitty, dumped his Chewy, Inc. shares at the end of October and GameStop has climbed steadily since.

SOFI Surges: SoFi shares have climbed 17% this week as investors hope for deregulation under a second Trump presidency. The stock pumped on heavy volume and ended the day more than 9% higher.

Read Next: What Does Trump’s Victory Mean For EV Giant Tesla And The Big 3 Automakers?

TSLA For President: Tesla shares blasted higher after Donald Trump won the presidential election. Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined Trump several times on the campaign trail and may even be appointed to a position in the administration.

Investors may also consider Trump's EV and tariff policy beneficial to Tesla, as both could potentially reduce competition for the U.S.-based EV giant. The stock has been up 30% since Tuesday, and its market cap has now reached more than $1 trillion.

SAVA: Cassava Sciences is a frequent flier on the Stocktwits trending list. HC Wainwright & Co. analyst Vernon Bernardino reiterated Cassava Sciences as a Buy and maintained an ambitious price target of $116 on Friday. The stock is currently trading at just under $27.

AVXL: Anavex Life Sciences rounds out the list as another heavily-shorted biotech stock that moved on heavy volume, despite a lack of news. According to data from Benzinga Pro, 21.78% of shares are being sold short, and the stock saw more than triple its average trading volume on Friday.

GME, SOFI, TSLA, SAVA, AVXL Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, GameStop shares closed up 6.1% at $24.88, SoFi shares closed up 9.33% at $13.01, Tesla shares closed up 8.19% at $321.22, Cassava Sciences shares closed up 6.55% at $27.00 and Anavex Life Sciences shares ended the day up 21% at $9.24 on Friday.

Read More:

• Trump’s Potential ‘Health Czar’ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rattles Vaccine Stocks: ‘Shoot First Reaction’

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