Amid Short Squeeze, GameStop Stock Surges Over 80%

GameStop stock surged last week following its announcements of holiday sales numbers and that Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen was added to its board. Analysts maintain that its future is uncertain, however.

The video game retailer’s shares finished the week of Jan. 11 up 82.9% to $35.50. Before that, the company had been on a downward spiral, with a 30% year-over-year decline in revenue in its most recent quarter.

Cohen — the company’s largest shareholder — joined GameStop’s board on Jan. 11. He has previously called on the company to enhance its e-commerce business.

The company reported a 309% increase in e-commerce sales over the holidays.

The wild week of gains:

• GameStop stock increased 13% on Jan. 11
• Shares climbed 57% higher on Jan. 13
• Shares were up another 27% on Jan. 14

The company shares climbed as high as $39.91 last week — a strong improvement from the $10.47 price they plummeted to in October 2020. Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum, which has 1.8 million members, had been touting a GameStop comeback for weeks.

U.S. total games spending reached $56.9 billion in 2020, a 27% increase year-over-year. Game content spending accounted for $48.9 billion of the total.