AMC, GameStop, Virgin Galactic short-sellers down $2.7B this week
AMC shares have soared 119% this week alone
Fox Business' Charlie Gasparino has the details of the analysts' claim on 'The Claman Countdown'
The long Memorial Day weekend can’t come soon enough for investors betting against AMC, GameStop and Virgin Galactic.
These short-sellers, who bet a share price will fall, have lost $2.7 billion through Thursday, according to data compiled by Ortex. This comes as the Reddit trading community and groups, including WallStreetBets, talked up the names on social media this week with #AMCSqueeze #AMC #AMC500k among active Twitter hashtags, which continued into Friday.
Yesterday alone losses topped $990 million, the second-worst day of the 2021 year after Jan. 27, when trading in these names was so heavy, firms, including Robinhood, had to restrict trading.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC | AMC ENTERTAINMENT | 4.35 | -0.16 | -3.55% |
| GME | GAMESTOP CORP. | 22.33 | -0.08 | -0.36% |
| SPCE | VIRGIN GALACTIC HOLDINGS INC. | 6.42 | -0.19 | -2.87% |
These so-called "meme" stocks have seen big gains this week as retail traders refocused on some of these names, particularly AMC, which has gained over 119%, while GameStop and Virgin Galactic are up over 40% apiece. That's translated to heavy losses in each of these names.
FOX Business' inquires to AMC, GameStop and Virgin Galactic were not immediately returned.
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With AMC, more chatter about the re-opening of theaters is providing some optimism, along with potentially some legwork by CEO Adam Aron.
AMC CEO USING TO TWITTER TO UNDERSTAND HIS RETAIL INVESTORS
Earlier this week, FOX Business exclusively reported that Aron is becoming more active on Twitter. Currently, he follows about 1,000 AMC retail stockholders on the social media platform and plans to follow 1,000 more over the coming weeks so that he can "better understand the phenomenon that has changed who owns AMC."
VIRGIN GALACTIC INVESTORS CHEER LAUNCH
As for Virgin Galactic, it successfully completed its VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spacecraft's first spaceflight from New Mexico's Spaceport America last weekend.
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FOX Business' Charlie Gasparino and Eleanor Terrett contributed to this report.