Investing

Midday Meme Stock Report for 7/9: Newegg, Cleveland Cliffs, Meta Materials, Virgin Galactic

Paul Ausick

Published: July 9, 2021 1:16 pm

Friday’s biggest meme stock mover in the morning trading session was Newegg Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: NEGG). The stock traded up about 29% in the first half-hour, but that gain was pared way back. Since the internet retailer’s mid-May initial public offering, the stock is up about 286%, after hitting a peak around $79 (up about 410%) on Thursday. There’s really been no news to justify even a modest swing in either direction, so the share price movement is likely down to animal spirits.

Miner and steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) received some attention from retail investors Friday, following Thursday’s announcement that Argus had initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating and a price target of $26. Last month, JPMorgan started coverage with an Overweight rating and a $39 price target. There have been five ratings on the stock since early May, and all have been the equivalent of Buy. The stock is highly liquid, and short interest was around 11% of total float at last report. Maybe not an obvious short squeeze, but that could happen.

Meta Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: MMAT) started sinking around mid-morning on Tuesday. Since then the share price has dropped by nearly $2.75, about a third of its value. The Reddit subgroup has had little to say about the stock because most are waiting to see how the details of the merger, stock split and preferred dividend shake out. Still, some investors somewhere are punting this one.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) was among the equities showing a (moderate) loss in the noon hour Friday. Maybe some investors were getting nervous about Sunday’s planned launch of the company’s VSS Unity with founder Richard Branson on board. With so much hype surrounding the flight, even a postponement could stomp on the share price.

Newegg traded up by about 9% at $49.60 in the noon hour Friday. The stock’s 52-week range is $2.80 to $79.07. The average daily trading volume is about 2.5 million shares, and thus far on the day, nearly 13 million shares had changed hands.

Cleveland-Cliffs stock traded up by about 7.5%, at $22.51. The stock’s 52-week range is $4.95 to $24.77, and the average daily trading volume is more than 24 million shares. More than 15 million shares had been traded.

Meta Materials traded down more than 11% to $5.10, in a 52-week range of $0.42 to $21.76. The average daily trading volume is about 17.6 million shares, and 13.6 million had already traded.

Virgin Galactic was down by around 3%, at $51.08 in a 52-week range of $14.27 to $62.80. The average daily trading volume on the shares is about 33 million, and nearly 42 million shares had been traded.