Even amid cooler-than-expected inflation data, stocks are all over the place today, with the Dow sharply lower, the S&P 500 flat, and the Nasdaq cautiously higher. Amidst this volatility, meme stock GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) and Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) are two names making outsized moves and attracting attention in the options pits.
GME is up 4.1% to trade at $26.50, continuing to take investors on a ride. After Friday's 39.4% drawdown, the meme stock proceeded to shed 12%, add 22.8%, and then give back 16.5%, in the first three trading days this week. Even staring at a 7% weekly loss, the shares are up 49% in 2024 and Roaring Kitty remains a lightning rod on Wall Street.
Yesterday, over 93,000 GME June 20 calls flew off the shelves, and widely speculated to be Keith Gill aka Roaring Kitty. That same standard contract is still popular today, but volume has substantially cooled and 20-strike puts are also growing in popularity.
PLAY is down 10.3% to trade at $45.16, after the entertainment company's first-quarter earnings and revenue fell short of estimates. Three analysts have trimmed their price targets in response, the worst coming from Truist to $64 from $67. Now down 16% year-to-date, the stock is on track for its worst single-session decline since September 2022 and is heading for its lowest close since early December.
At last check, over 14,000 options have changed hands, volume that's nine times the average intraday amount. The July 40 put is the most popular by a wide margin, with new positions being bought to open.
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