Investing

Midday Meme Stock Report for 10/15: Corsair Gaming, 23andMe, Virgin Galactic and More

Paul Ausick

Published: October 15, 2021 1:19 pm

U.S. markets traded higher in the noon hour Friday, with the consumer discretionary sector leading (up 1.42%) followed by the financial sector (up 1.16%) and industrials (up 1.02%). Crude oil traded at more than $82 a barrel in the morning, and copper futures were up 2%. Yields on 10-year Treasuries were up more than five basis points, about double their gain during premarket trading. Yields remained below a recent high of nearly 1.63% and a 52-week high of about 1.78%.

Among meme stocks, losers outnumber winners, and Friday’s only double-digit decliner (thus far) was Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE). The company said on Thursday that it would delay further commercial flights until the fourth quarter of next year. Analysts had been figuring that flights over the next 12 months would result in revenue for 2022 in the neighborhood of $12 million. Of that total, the delay is expected to shave off $10 million of that revenue forecast. The worse news could be that Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has launched and returned Capt. Kirk (aka, William Shatner) to the edge of space, along with a couple of other paying customers. Emphasis on the word “paying.”

The other side of the trading coin was a double-digit winner: consumer and genetic research firm 23andMe Holding Co. (NASDAQ: ME). Trading volume on the stock has been quite low, it generates little social media chatter and short interest is low, so it may not meet the requirements of a meme stock. Friday, however, who cares? Shares were up sharply following an interview Thursday on CNBC with EMJ Capital analyst Eric Jackson who thinks the company can match the value of GlaxoSmithKline in 10 years. 23andMe’s market cap is around $3.8 billion, while GSK’s is almost $98 billion. Stranger things have happened.

Corsair Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: CRSR) announced preliminary third-quarter results on Thursday that fell far more than $90 million short of the Wall Street estimate of $485.2 million in revenue. Corsair blamed the shortfall on logistics and supply chain issues. The company also guided full-year revenue below the consensus estimate. Shares currently trade with an implied gain of around 55% to the average price target of $39.

Camber Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: CEI) was bouncing higher from about two weeks of negativity following a hard-hitting short seller’s report from Kerrisdale Capital. The company had no specific news Friday. The stock needs a big bounce to get back near its 52-week high posted in late September.

Virgin Galactic stock traded down by more than 15% to $20.36 in the noon hour Friday. The stock’s 52-week range is $14.27 to $62.80, and the average daily trading volume is about 17.7 million shares. More than 40 million shares had traded thus far on the day.

Shares of 23andMe traded up about 16.8%, at $9.20 in a 52-week range of $7.01 to $18.16. The average daily trading volume is about 1.7 million shares, and 14 million had already traded.

Corsair Gaming stock traded down more than 7% in the noon hour to $25.06, in a 52-week range of $18.59 to $51.37. The average daily trading volume is about 1.7 million, and more than 5 million had traded thus far.

Camber Energy was up more than 12%, at $1.43 in a 52-week range of $0.33 to $4.85. More than 156 million shares had changed hands, compared to the average daily volume of about 177 million.