Meme stock latest:

Per MainFT:

GameStop announced plans to sell up to 45mn new shares, following a week in which its stock soared after the re-emergence of a popular day trader synonymous with “meme stock” investing.

The video game store operator announced plans for the share sale on Friday morning, as it announced preliminary results showing it expected net sales in its first quarter to decline from a year ago and the midpoint for its net loss range came in weaker than Wall Street forecast.

The meme stock second act began on May 13, when an X account linked with trader Keith Gill, known as Roaring Kitty, broke a three-year silence by tweeting a picture of a man in a chair.

Its output since has been cryptic, self-promotional and spammy, which has heightened suspicions that Gill may have sold the account.

GameStop warned to expect first-quarter net sales to be in the range of $872mn to $892mn against a consensus expectation of $1.05bn. The net loss guidance of $27mn to $37mn also missed Street expectations.

At pixel, on premarket pricing, Gamestop shares are down 21 per cent at $27.67. Before Gill’s apparent reappearance, they were $17.46.

Though the real fun was in $GME call options due to expire today:

The brief spike did succeed in squeezing out some shorts. According to S&P data, 28.5 per cent of GameStop shares were on loan as of Thursday, down from the recent high of 34.2 per cent, with the cost of borrow and the shortage of borrowable shares both easing from very high levels:

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And of course, GameStop’s cash call should make covering these short positions a bit easier. Well done everyone.