A "meme" stock favored by Reddit traders hits a 16-month high. Should you buy the stock?
GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen purchased approximately 844,000 shares of the company, triggering a rise in the stock price
GameStop sells video games and collectibles / Photo: Shutterstock.com / QualityHD
Shares of GameStop, a retailer of video games and collectibles, rose to a 16-month high during trading on October 14. The rise followed the release of a tax filing showing that the company’s CEO, Ryan Cohen, had purchased approximately 844,000 GameStop shares the day before. The company gained notoriety during the “meme rally,” when traders from the online forum Reddit orchestrated a surge in its stock price. This year, the stock has risen by a third.
Details
GameStop shares rose as much as 3.7% on Wednesday—to $28.22, their highest level since June 2025. However, they closed the day down 0.26%.
Following the stock purchase, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen now owns 42 million shares of the company, representing about 10% of its total outstanding shares, according to Barron’s. This purchase marks Cohen’s fifth since September 10, the publication reports. Earlier this year, he stated that he considers it “necessary” for executives of public companies to buy shares in their own companies “to strengthen ties with shareholders,” the publication notes. Insider purchases typically support stock prices, as they signal to the market that management believes the shares are undervalued, Barron’s added.
However, the rise in GameStop’s stock price may simply be a sign of speculative activity in the market: the company remains the best-known “meme stock,” whose share price has previously surged sharply on multiple occasions due to its popularity on investor forums, rather than because of fundamental indicators such as earnings or price-to-earnings ratios, the publication notes.
GameStop shares have only one analyst rating: a "Hold" recommendation, according to MarketWatch.
Context
In May 2024, GameStop’s stock soared 40% after the company raised nearly $1 billion in a stock offering, capitalizing on the rally sparked by posts from trader Keith Gill, known as Roaring Kitty.
In February 2025, the stock price rose by nearly 10% after Cohen posted a photo with Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor, sparking rumors of a crypto project by the retailer. In May 2025, the stock gained nearly 18% in two days amid a new Bitcoin record—investors began to view GameStop more as a bet on cryptocurrency than as a traditional meme stock.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
