Investing

Meme Stock Movers for 12/22: American Virtual Cloud, Camber Energy, Cassava, Naked Brands, Tesla

Paul Ausick

Published: December 22, 2021 9:16 am

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Tuesday. The Nasdaq rose almost 2.3%, the S&P 500 was up about 1.8%, and the Dow Jones industrials gained 1.6%. The third estimate on third-quarter U.S. gross domestic product growth increased from a prior 2.1% to 2.3%. Premarket trading Wednesday shifted markedly lower after the report, with all three indexes moving into the red.

Crude oil traded up slightly at $71.20 a barrel, while Bitcoin was trading roughly flat at around $48,700. Yields on 10-year and two-year Treasury notes were up about two basis points to 1.473% and 0.678%, respectively.

Winners far outnumbered losers Tuesday on our meme stock watch list. The only double-digit loser was Camber Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: CEI). The stock traded down about 6% in the noon hour Tuesday and closed the day down nearly 13%. As we noted in our midday report, Camber received another extension to a New York Stock Exchange requirement that the company file delinquent documents with the SEC.

American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AVCT) has added nearly 40% to its share price over the past five trading sessions. Shares rose more than 22% on Tuesday and traded up about 27% in Wednesday’s premarket session. Short sellers own less than 2% of the company’s stock, so a short squeeze is unlikely.

The company claims that its Kandy Communications unit now serves the public switched telephone networks in 40 countries, including the United States and now China. Retail investors have been jumping on the stock, in part due to its low price and its 12-month high of $9.62, a level many think is within reach again soon.

Naked Brand Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKD) completed its 1-for-15 reverse stock split and the stock traded this morning at $6.08 after closing at $0.48 last night. The math says the conversion should have yielded a share price of around $7.22. We have more details in Tuesday’s midday report.

Elon Musk has told the Babylon Bee that he has “sold enough” Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock. Musk parted with nearly 600,000 shares on Tuesday to bring his total sales to 13.5 million shares, which is less than the 10% of his holdings he said he planned to sell. He told the Bee that his 10% goal included the sale of stock tied to exercised options. The share price added about 4.3% on Tuesday, and shares traded up 3.4% in Wednesday’s premarket session.

Shares of Cassava Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVA) closed nearly 19% higher on Tuesday. The increase was the result of two independent reports that rejected short seller claims that Cassava had manipulated trial data related to its Alzheimer drug. Shares were down slightly in early trading Wednesday.