It isn’t just GameStop:
Here are some of the other heavily shorted stocks shooting higher
Suffering theater chain, fallen cellphone giant and another damaged retailer are among shorted stocks finding big gains on Wall Street
The dynamic that has seemingly contributed to a short squeeze in the stock of videogame retailer GameStop Corp. also appears to be affecting shares in a host of other heavily shorted companies.
Referenced Symbols
AMC +12.22% BB +4.94% EXPR -26.75% GME +92.71% FB +1.45% BBBY +20.18% KOSS +66.67%
The dynamic that has seemingly contributed to a short squeeze in the stock of videogame retailer GameStop Corp. also appears to be affecting shares in a host of other heavily shorted companies.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, +12.22%, BlackBerry Ltd. BB, +4.94% and retailer Express Inc. EXPR, -26.75%, have all experienced sharp moves without any apparent news to act as a driver while facing a large amount of bets against them. The same dynamic exists for GameStop GME, +92.71% stock, which has gained more than 300% in the past two-plus weeks amid support from investors on Reddit’s WallStreetBets message board.
In the case of AMC, the world’s biggest cinema operator, that has meant gains of more than 120% in the year to date, even as the company has conducted dilutive capital raisings and its core business.
‘Investor stampede’ squeezes out bears
Shares of struggling retailer Express were among those caught up in the apparent short squeeze, according to Wedbush analyst Jen Redding, as the stock more than tripled (up 255%) in two days on record volume despite no news released by the company.
The stock skyrocketed 132% on Monday on volume of 358.6 million shares on Monday, both one-day records, breaking the previous records set on Friday with a 53% gain on volume of 77.3 million shares. In comparison, the full-day average volume over the past 30 days has been 18.9 million shares.
The company confirmed to MarketWatch that it’s last public announcement was made on Jan. 14, when the stock shot up 24% on volume of about 51 million shares after Express revealed an agreement on $140 million in additional financing with Sycamore Partners, as well as Wells Fargo and Bank of America. This financing was definitely good news for a retailer that has been fighting to stay solvent. But the stock fell 9.4% over the next three days, so it’s unlikely the Friday-Monday rally was a result of that news.
“We’re focused on our EXPRESSway Forward transformation strategy and things that are in our control,” said Dan Aldridge III, vice president of investor relations, in an emailed statement.
In addition to the “wider squeeze play” of the more shorted stocks, Wedbush’s Redding said the stock benefited from an “investor stampede” following bullish comments from a Twitter “personality” Will Meade.
Meade’s Twitter profile says he’s a former portfolio manager at a Goldman Sachs founded $1 billion hedge fund, with over 127,000 followers (he’s not verified).
On Jan. 22, just before Express’s two-day rocket ride, Meade tweeted that Express’s stock fit the criteria of being the next GameStop, as it had a low stock price, had a retail brand name that could turn around and had high short interest levels, at about 13% of the public float.
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