Investing

Midday Meme Stock Report for 10/8: Camber Energy, Clover Health, Offerpad, TMC

Paul Ausick

Published: October 8, 2021 1:29 pm

Just two of the S&P 11 sectors were trading in the green at midday Friday. Energy (up 2.3%) is the big winner, as crude prices topped $80 a barrel earlier in the morning. The September employment situation report weighed heavily, as new jobs fell far short of economists’ estimates. A ray of good news in the report was a 4.6% year-over-year increase in wages.

The big story on meme stocks in recent days has been Camber Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: CEI). Over the past two days, the stock has rebounded from a share price drop of around 70% although it still trades down 43% compared to its price before a short seller report was released earlier this week. The stock was down slightly at noon on Friday.

TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ: TMC) was Friday’s big loser thus far, down more than 11% at noon. The company had no specific news, although earlier this week it announced a test program for recovering polymetallic nodules from the seafloor. The company already has completed a demo smelting project that produced high-grade battery metals.

Offerpad Solutions Inc. (NYSE: OPAD) was leading Friday’s winners with a gain of around 12%. The online real estate firm had no specific news. The company’s float is a mere 2.77 million shares, and 59% of those are sold short. With 233.5 million shares outstanding, it is pretty clear that insiders and big investors are holding on until they get a push from retail investors. The stock hit a post-IPO high last month and has given back more than half of it so far.

Clover Health Investments Corp. (NASDAQ: CLOV) jumped by more than 7% Friday morning, after the company announced that its 2020 PPO Medicare Advantage plan had received a 3.5-star rating from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). That’s a half-star improvement over the prior year’s rating. While that’s good news, in a press release announcing the ratings, CMS noted that about 68% of Medicare Advantage programs that offer prescription drug coverage (Clover’s does) have an overall rating of at least four stars.

At last look, Clover Health stock traded up about 3.5% at $7.66, as the noon hour ended Friday. The stock’s 52-week range is $6.31 to $28.85, and the average daily trading volume is more than 26.6 million shares. Nearly 15 million had traded thus far on Friday.

Camber Energy turned around a small loss and traded about 3.92% higher to $1.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $0.33 to $4.85, and more than 800 million shares had traded on the day, compared to a daily average of 153.7 million.

Shares of Offerpad were up 9% to $8.45, in a 52-week range of $6.80 to $20.97. The average daily trading volume is about 3.3 million shares, and nearly a million had changed hands thus far.

TMC stock traded down about 12% to $3.52, after posting a new 52-week low of $3.50. The stock’s 52-week high is $15.39, and the average daily trading volume is around 13.3 million. Nearly 6 million shares had traded.