Factbox: Stocks shunned by Wall Street surge as 'GameStop Effect' snowballs
27/01/2021 21:21
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Amateur stock traders made a
concerted effort to buy shares of companies shunned by Wall
Street, challenging short positions by hedge funds, and costing
some professionals billions of dollars on their bearish bets and
inflating stock valuations. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2K22EA
The GameStop effect has snowballed, with a number of
downtrodden stocks surging thanks to the buying frenzy that
started with GameStop. Heavy buying by retail investors sent
shares of the video game retailer soaring, forcing big funds
including Andrew Left's Citron to cover short positions,
incurring hefty losses.
Below are some of the stocks involved:
** GameStop GME.N : Institutional investors bet against the
video game retailer's model, but the company's announcement on
Jan. 11 that it was changing its board and doubling down on
digital sales, boosted the stock. Short sellers scrambled to
cover their positions, which in turn attracted a spate of
further retail buying. GameStock was last up 134.8% for the
session, extending its year-to-date gain of 685.5% as of
Tuesday's close.
** Blackberry BB.N announced it was expanding its
partnership with China-based search platform Baidu Inc BIDU.O ,
but the Canadian company said it was not aware of any reason
behind its rally. The stock was last up 32.7%, extending its
185.4% year-to-date advance urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K01J3
** AMC Entertainment Holdings' AMC.N stock started its
ascent after saying bankruptcy talks were "completely off the
table." So far this year, the movie theater operator's stock was
up 134% as of Tuesday's close. On Wednesday, its price was last
up 301.2% urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K03P6
** Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY.O continued to rise even after
Wedbush downgraded the retailer to "neutral" after an
"extraordinary two days of trading." Its shares were last up
43.5%, building on its 107.6% jump since the last closing price
of 2020. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K23FF
** Pharmaceutical firm CEL-SCI Corp CVM.N shares jumped
72.5% in a session fraught with multiple trading halts due to
volatility. This added to its 24% gain so far this year.
** Finland-based Nokia NOK.N announced on Wednesday it was
unaware of any reason why its shares joined the short squeeze
stampede. It was last up 38.5%, extending its 21% jump year to
date. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2K22BC
** Consumer electronics company Koss Corp KOSS.O was
caught in the mania. Most recently its shares were soaring by
480.0%, building on its 190.7% advance so far in 2021.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Editing by Alden Bentley and David
Gregorio)
((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))