These 2 Meme Stocks Won’t Survive the Next Stock Market Crash
Leo Sun, 26 March 2021
The Reddit-fueled short squeezes of GameStop (NYSE:GME) and other heavily shorted stocks earlier this year thrust the idea of “meme stocks” — equities that get aggressively promoted on social media platforms — into the broader market’s spotlight.
Some of those meme stocks actually have solid underlying businesses that could allow them to resist a market downturn. However, there are plenty of others with businesses that can’t possibly support their frothy valuations. Let’s take a look at two meme stocks that will likely burn their shareholders the next time the market stumbles.
1. Naked Brand
Shares of Naked Brand Group (NASDAQ:NAKD), a New Zealand-based retailer of intimate apparel and swimwear, surged from about $0.07 last October to an all-time high of $3.40 in late January. Nearly everyone who chased that rally and hung on got burned — the stock now trades at about $0.77 per share.
Naked’s rally had nothing to do with its fundamentals. It was identified as a short squeeze target on Reddit, and its name was cited in discussions about “naked shorting” — the illegal practice of shorting a stock without borrowing it first. Those discussions inexplicably evolved into a movement to promote the stock on Reddit, which caused it to rally alongside GameStop and other meme stocks in January.
