AMC Entertainment (AMC) -Get Report shares slumped lower Monday, following a 20% gain last week that lifted the cinema chain's value close to $30 billion, as the two most active meme stock names continue to dominate Reddit-retail trading.
TheStreet'sfounder Jim Cramer, however, cautioned Monday that the ability of meme-powered investors to boost stock prices could fade in the coming weeks, citing a series of failed recommendations from discussions on the r/wallstreetbets chatroom in Reddit.
Cramer noted that recent pullbacks in Wendy's (WEN) -Get Report, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) -Get Report and Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) -Get Report -- all of which have benefited from either a meme-drive retail surge or an attempt to squeeze investors betting against the stock -- suggest a retrenchment of influence back to the two stocks that started this year's phenomena: AMC and GameStop (GME) -Get Report.
With both stocks, however, Cramer says the only real bet is that CEO Adam Aron of AMC and Chairman Ryan Cohen of GameStop can raise enough money from the sale of shares to buy a sector rival and revive their failing businesses.
AMC, which unveiled plans to sell 12 million new shares earlier this month after placing a further 8.5 million shares with hedge fund Mudrick Capital is looking for approval to sell 25 million shares at some point next year in order to fund potential 'value creating' investment opportunities.
GameStop, meanwhile, said it plans to sell up to 5 million shares in an "at-the-market" offering, noting it will use the capital for "general corporate purposes" and investing in "growth initiatives" following a first quarter loss.
"Right now AMC is a $30 billion company with very little hope that it can survive unless it monetizes the meme support, which his exactly what it should do," Cramer said in hisReal Money Column Monday. " GameStop needs a brilliant plan and while Cohen has brought in brilliant people, the issue is what is the company going to be? It can’t be what it is. No industry insider thinks that is possible."
AMC shares were marked 8.5% lower in mid-day trading Monday to change hands at $54.30 each, a move that would take the stock's one-month gain to around 350%.
GameStop shares slumped 7.2% lower to $198.40 each, a gain of 12.5% from last month's levels.
Data from theYolosocks.livewebsite, which tracks real-time mentions on stocks within Reddit's r/wallstreetbets chatroom, indicates that AMC is still the most-discussed stock among users over the past 24 hours and more than 777 mentions.
Short interest in AMC shares remains elevated, however, with data from S3 Partners pegging it at 68.83 million. That represents around 13.8% of the outstanding float, or just under $4 billion in market value.
For GameStop. short interest is around 11.5 million shares, or 19.9% of the outstanding float, pegging bets against the money-losing retailer at $2.64 billion.