GameStop (GME) Blames 'Short Squeeze' for Past and Future Volatility

In its 10-K GameStop (NYSE: GME) said a “short squeeze” due to a sudden increase in demand for shares of our Class A Common Stock that largely exceeds supply has led to, and may continue to lead to, extreme price volatility in shares of our Class A Common Stock.

The company explained:

Investors may purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock to hedge existing exposure or to speculate on the price of our Class A Common Stock. Speculation on the price of our Class A Common Stock may involve long and short exposures. To the extent aggregate short exposure exceeds the number of shares of our Class A Common Stock available for purchase on the open market, investors with short exposure may have to pay a premium to repurchase shares of our Class A Common Stock for delivery to lenders of our Class A Common Stock. Those repurchases may in turn, dramatically increase the price of shares of our Class A Common Stock until additional shares of our Class A Common Stock are available for trading or borrowing. This is often referred to as a “short squeeze.”

A large proportion of our Class A Common Stock has been and may continue to be traded by short sellers which may increase the likelihood that our Class A Common Stock will be the target of a short squeeze. A short squeeze has led and could continue to lead to volatile price movements in shares of our Class A Common Stock that are unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance or prospects and, once investors purchase the shares of our Class A Common Stock necessary to cover their short positions, the price of our Class A Common Stock may rapidly decline. Stockholders that purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock during a short squeeze may lose a significant portion of their investment.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Visa (V) stock rises as Q2 earnings, revenue come ahead of estimates
• Instacart (CART), DoorDash (DASH), Uber (UBER) on Watch After Amazon (AMZN) Launches Grocery Delivery Subscription
• General Motors (GM) CFO: Expect to return to profits in Q2 in China