Mar 22, 2023

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images News GameStop (NYSE: GME ) opened with a 45% rally on Wednesday as the retailer's surprise for the holiday quarter recharged bulls. Shares have since cooled just a bit and were showing a 33% rise as of 9:50 a.m. Volume on GameStop ( GME ) in the first twenty minutes of trading was sky high amid an elevated level of short interest. Wedbush Securities is one of the few sell-side firms that still posts updates on the videogame retailer. The firm kept an Underperform rating on GME on what it sees as a fleeting victory for bulls. While GameStop delivered a profitable holiday quarter, analyst Michael Pachter noted a boost in free cash flow and operating profit is primarily attributable to one-time working capital changes that the firm does not expect to be sustainable going forward. GameStop's $1.4B of net cash is expected to help last it several more years as its management seeks new ways to revive a declining business, but new-gen hardware sales are seen inevitably cooling off and physical sales of video games are noted to be a multi-year downward trajectory. Seeking Alpha contributor Josh Arnold fired off a timely upgrade on GameStop just ahead of the earnings report, while Trapping Value weighed in after the report with a Strong Sell rating. Some of the usual meme suspects and highly-shorted names were more active than normal in early trading following the GameStop pop. Stocks seeing some speculative bets come in included Carvana ( CVNA ) +22.82% ( exchange offer news also in the mix ), Bed Bath & Beyond ( BBBY ) +6.29%, AMC Entertainment ( AMC ) +4.25%, Vinco Ventures ( BBIG ) +1.55%, Virgin Galactic ( SPCE ) +1.80%, and Express ( EXPR ) +1.77% were all seeing some speculative bets come in. Those stocks are all swinging around wildly with volume higher than normal for the early part of the session. Recommended For You