(News Bulletin 247) – Bloomberg reports that Keith Gill, known by the nickname “roaring kitty”, has returned to the social network X, leading to speculation on the market.

Gamestop is the ultimate “meme stock”. The action of the video game distribution group (including the Micromania stores) experienced a buying fever in 2021 (with an increase of more than 2,000%).

Individual investors had banded together via forums, such as Reddit, to carry the shares, and take the short sellers by surprise, forced to unwind their positions. This is what we call a “short squeeze”. Other groups on the stock market have become “meme stocks”, such as the cinema operator AMC.

This stock market frenzy has since subsided. But this Monday, the stock literally soared on Wall Street, taking 68.8% shortly before the close of the European markets.

This jump in the stock seems to be linked to the return to social networks of the account which had been at the origin of the fever of 2021, reports the Bloomberg agency. Keith Gill posted for the first time since 2021, according to Dow Jones Newswires, on the social network

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Thanos and Wolverine

Two posts were posted online. The first shows a video game player with controller in hand, who sits up in his chair, to illustrate a renewed concentration. This post has been viewed 14 million times.

The second is a video of just under a minute with two clips from Marvel films. First the villain of the Marvel films, Thanos, who dons the infinity gauntlet (which gives him great powers) with the phrase “I’ll do it myself”. The second extract is taken from a film about the hero Wolverine, known for his long adamantium claws, like a feline. Immersed in a bath and monitored by scientists, this character wakes up, spreads its claws and roars. Which seems to be the user’s way of saying they’re back and ready to take action.

This second post had just been published at the time of writing this article but had already been viewed more than 300,000 times in the space of a few minutes.

Enough to fuel speculation as to the reproduction of the 2021 scenario. Dow Jones Newswires recalls that the very optimistic analyzes of Keith Gill on Redditt had created the Gamestop phenomenon on the stock market.

“The fact that he is able to attract crowds shows that crowds are once again feeling very concerned about FOMO (“fear of missing out”, basically the fear of missing the stock market rally, Editor’s note) and YOLO ( “you only live once”, Peter Atwater, president of Financial Insyghts and assistant professor at William & Mary and the University of Delaware, told Bloomberg. are interested in things that have purely speculative value, their confidence is extremely high and this is one of the ways it manifests itself,” he adds.

“Like last time, it appears that investors are betting against those who sell the stock short, a so-called ‘short squeeze.’ According to S&P Capital IQ, the percentage of outstanding Gamestop shares that are sold short is 21%, although, again, this percentage is much lower than the 140% recorded during the 2021 peak,” explains Dow Jones Newswires.

Remember, however, that analysts consider that Gamestop’s valuation is disconnected from its fundamentals. This is the case, for example, of Michael Pachter, of Wedbush, who estimates, to Bloomberg, that the fever will fade because Gamestop, which must publish results next month, does not have the figures “to keep it up “.