Meme stocks soar again: GameStop and AMC show huge gains

GameStop and AMC are on the rise in a big way again. As of 10:10 a.m. ET, GameStop was up 19% to $246.14, while the AMC Apes had boosted the theater chain’s shares by 12.5% to $43.65. Bed Bath & Beyond, meanwhile, was up 26%, after soaring 80% in after-hours trading Tuesday.

For Bed Bath & Beyond, the spike came amid a perfect storm of a short squeeze and the announcement that select home and baby products would be available in Kroger stores later this year.

GameStop, AMC, and Bed Bath & Beyond are all among the most heavily discussed stocks on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets forum Wednesday, according to real-time Reddit ticker analytics site YoloStocks (with GameStop receiving 10% of the mentions).

Redditors, as they often do, delighted in the chaos.

“Watching people get caught by the memes yet again is really amazing,” said user BlackKnightsOptions. “It’s like they never learn,” added AmeriMan2.

And after yesterday’s surprise run-up, Avis is a hot topic of conversation as well (that company’s shares are down 16.5% in mid-morning trading, though still 68% higher than two days ago). Reddit didn’t seem to be responsible for the car rental group’s spike yesterday, as many WSB commenters were taken by surprise at the gains.

Retail investors have upended the market in many ways this year, pushing prices of unlikely companies higher in order to force hedge funds to cover their short positions. In some cases, the gains hold, as individuals refuse to sell their shares and take profits. In others, though, they lose their interest and the prices plunge back to their old trading price. Clover Health, for example, briefly soared from the $7 to $10 range to $28.85 in June. It’s now trading at $7.85.