3 Miserable Meme Stocks to Sell While You Still Can

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For many investors, 2023 was a time to take risk off the table. However, the recent musings by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell have investors going to sleep with visions of rate cuts dancing in their heads. If you’re looking to put some capital to work in the market, meme stocks could be a popular choice.  However, there are several meme stocks to sell that are quickly burying themselves.

It’s understandable. However, many stocks are cheap for a reason, and that’s the case with many meme stocks. When you combine that with lackluster revenue and/or earnings growth (if the company is profitable at all), and negative analyst sentiment and these meme stocks become a heavy lift for retail traders and investors.

This is the time of year for tax-loss harvesting. Also, while it’s also a season of peace and goodwill, that doesn’t mean you have to sit on losses. If you own any of the three meme stocks below you can sell them before the close of trading on December 29, 2023. If you still like them on Groundhog’s Day you can buy them back. Chances are they won’t have gone anywhere.

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GameStop (GME)

An empty GameStop (GME) store in Dresden, Germany.
An empty GameStop (GME) store in Dresden, Germany.

Source: 1take1shot / Shutterstock.com

GameStop (NYSE:GME) is really two stocks with two different stories. On the one hand, you have GameStop which is the Blockbuster Video of video game stocks. It has an outdated, and dying, business model. Most games, and certainly the most popular titles, are available via digital downloads.

Then you have GME stock, the OG among the meme stocks and slayer of hedge funds. Since its epic short squeeze in 2021, GameStop has never been able to relive its past glory, but that doesn’t stop investors from trying.

The company is relatively debt free, approaching positive earnings, and is sitting on a pile of cash. That can keep this cat-and-mouse game going for awhile. But ultimately, investors have to ask where the growth will come from.

GameStop’s board of directors approved a plan in which the company—and specifically CEO Ryan Cohen—can invest in equity securities, among other investments. Put me down in the skeptical category. Besides, as Wedbush notes, the board seems to believe that the company can achieve better results by investing in other companies instead of their own.

It’s an odd bet, and one that could, in theory, pay off. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t wait until Mr. Cohen proves himself.

AMC Entertainment (AMC)

Mobile phone with logo of AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC). Pumping stock exchange prices by Reddit investors. Playing on market, manipulation. Losses, crisis.
Mobile phone with logo of AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC). Pumping stock exchange prices by Reddit investors. Playing on market, manipulation. Losses, crisis.

Source: Ira Lichi / Shutterstock.com

AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) is another of the meme stocks that is struggling to reclaim its past glory. Prior to 2020, attendance at movie theaters was in decline. I mention that because despite several blockbuster movies in 2023, AMC reported that attendance is still not at 2019 levels.