Shares of video game retailer GameStop (GME) are up 20% on news that Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty,” has returned to social media after a three-year absence.
Gill’s bullish analysis of GameStop on Reddit page WallStreetBets during the 2021 meme stock craze sent the company’s share price soaring.
Offline, Gill was a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a licensed securities broker based in Massachusetts. He last worked for MassMutual before resigning from his job in 2021.
By some estimates, Gill turned an initial investment of $53,000 U.S. in GameStop into $50 million U.S. due to the short squeeze that was executed on the stock in January 2021.
He posted his remarks about GameStop under the online name “Roaring Kitty.” His real name and identity weren’t revealed until he was compelled to testify before the U.S. Congress about the meme stock rally.
Gill famously told lawmakers he was not a cat in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, which examined the volatility in stock trading during early 2021.
Now Gill has made his first social media post on X (formerly Twitter) in three years in a cryptic post meant to show he is again paying attention to what’s happening with GameStop.
GameStop’s stock peaked at $483 U.S. a share in 2021 before crashing back to earth. Before today (May 13), the stock was trading at $17.46 U.S. per share.
It appears that Gill and others are once again betting against traders who are shorting GameStop’s stock and looking to possibly execute a short squeeze on the shares.
The percentage of GameStop shares currently being shorted is at 21%, according to S&P Capital Markets. That’s well below the 140% seen during the 2021 rally.
As a company, GameStop continues to struggle with poor sales and declining profits. Analysts expect GameStop to register an operating margin of only 2% this year on a 4% sales decrease.
The company currently operates 2,915 retail stores in the U.S. and 1,254 overseas. It has been trying for several years to turnaround its business and move to selling video games online.
