Yahoo Finance Meme Mania is Back: Buy these 3 Stocks
Meme Mania: COVID-19 was the Perfect Storm
The 2020 U.S. equity crash and subsequent rebound was the perfect storm for a unique event called the “Meme” stock craze. After the panic lows of March 2020, stocks bottomed, and the government started to pump liquidity into the market and everyday Americans with stimulus checks. With many people working remotely, confined to their homes, and with more money in their pockets, Americans started trading in the stock market.
By 2021, a message board called “Wallstreetbets” gained a cult-like following on the social media website Reddit. At the center of the Wallstreetbets subcategory was a GameStop (GME) investor named Keith Gill, better known by his handle “Roaring Kitty.” Gill made the astute observation that big institutional investors were heavily short GME shares and decided to band together a hoard of retail investors to orchestrate a classic short squeeze. The plan worked. In January 2021, GME shares gained over 1600% in a single month!
“Roaring Kitty” is Back
Monday morning, Roaring Kitty tweeted an image of a person sitting forward in a chair – a meme that signifies “things are getting serious.” GME shares gained more than 100% based on the tweet. So much for the efficient market hypothesis! Meanwhile, other former meme stock favorites such as AMC (AMC), Beyond (BYON), and Upstart Holdings (UPST) spiked in sympathy.
Meme Craze Lessons
Trading meme stocks is not for everyone. Below are 3 essential lessons to consider:
“Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent”: Though the fundamental reason for such moves is obviously questionable, it doesn’t mean these stocks can’t move higher.
When music stops, it can get ugly: As fast as stocks move higher, they can also move lower. GME plunged nearly 70% in February 2021.
Expect Hyper Volatility: With so many investors watching the same stocks, higher volatility is a given.
3 Meme Stocks Worth Considering
Though GME is the king of meme stocks, it is also likely to be the most volatile. Instead of chasing meme stocks with no fundamentals or catalysts, I prefer to do the opposite. Below are 3 meme stocks to consider:
Novavax (NVAX)
Last week, NVAX shares doubled on volume 2,000x the norm after the company announced a deal with biotechgiant Sanofi (SNY) toco-commercialize a COVID-19 vaccine and develop novel COVID-19-Influenza combination vaccines. The deal is a game changer for the company for 3 reasons.
1. Cash Injection: NVAX will get cash and equity worth ~$1.2 billion. (NVAX market cap is just $1.69 billion)
2. SNY Stake: Sanofi will take a minority equity investment in the stock. Perhaps the company will buy more NVAX in the future.
3. Distribution: A deal with a biotech juggernaut like SNY provides NVAX with distribution.
Reddit (RDDT)
Social media giant RDDT recently went public. RDDT stands to benefit from increased traffic from meme stock mania indirectly. More importantly, RDDT is likely to benefit immensely from the AI revolution. Because of RDDT’s immense popularity, the website is perfect for “training” large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. RDDT recently scored a $60 million annual licensing deal with Alphabet (GOOGL) to train its large language models. As the race for AI supremacy heats up, RDDT will likely cash in on more licensing deals.RDDT is currently forming a classic and bullish IPO “U-turn” base structure.
Image Source: TradingView
Tesla (TSLA)
TSLA is one of the original meme stocks, which went from $23 to over $400 during the first meme stock craze. The stock has the perfect recipe for a run. It continues to be heavily shorted, has several catalysts ahead (like the Cybertruck rollout), and has a bargain base valuation.
Bottom Line
Monday’s market action tells us that meme stocks are back in play. However, because not all meme stocks are created equally, investors should focus on those with fundamental catalysts.
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GameStop Corp. (GME) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Upstart Holdings, Inc. (UPST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Beyond, Inc. (BYON) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Reddit Inc. (RDDT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
