After GameStop, which companies are Reddit investors targeting next?
The army of small investors using Reddit to punish hedge funds hoping to profit from the failure of GameStop have taken their battle global, sending some stock prices soaring across the US, Asia and Europe.
The investors, who use online broker apps such as Robinhood and discuss stocks and tips anonymously on sites such as Reddit, are targeting stocks that have been heavily shorted by hedge funds that stand to lose billions unless their share prices fall dramatically.
AMC Entertainment
Shares in the world’s largest cinema chain, and owner of Odeon in the UK, surged by 300% on Wednesday, bouncing back to a market value not seen since before the pandemic brought the industry to its knees. The stock fell by 22% in after-hours trading in the evening.
American Airlines
The company’s share price jumped nearly 10% after it was mentioned on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. “AAL the next GME?” Asked one Reddit user in an online discussion, referring to GameStop which has risen as much as 1,700% in two weeks.
BlackBerry
The once must-have phone from the noughties, has seen its share price rise 170% since the start of the year
Nokia
The Finnish phone company’s shares rose 42% on Thursday, reportedly its biggest one-day percentage gain since it began trading in 1991.
Blockbuster
The company whose model was all but relegated to history with the rise of streaming services led by Netflix saw gains of much as 700% on Tuesday despite having only one physical video store left.
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Shares in the US retail chain rose 43% on Wednesday but fell back 12% in after-hours trading.
Pearson and Cineworld
The UK-based education company and the movie theatre chain, which this week agreed a £200m award to bosses if the share price can bounce back to pre-pandemic levels in three years, both saw rises of about 10% on Wednesday. Both are among the most-shorted of London-listed stocks.
Webjet, Tassal Group, Inghams Group and InvoCare
Heavily-shorted Australian stocks including these companies all rose on Thursday against an overall fall of Sydney’s benchmark ASX 200 index.