Shares of movie-theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. were aloft to start another week, with the company’s stock sharply higher amid a social-media campaign to push it toward $60 a share.
So-called #AMCDay was the third-most popular trend on Twitter on Monday, and presumably helping give a fresh catalyst to the one of the most popular meme stocks this year.
Shares of AMC
AMC,
+15.38%
have climbed 2,659% so far in 2021 as individual investors on social-media sites like Reddit and Discord have come together to help drive up values and hurt investors who are betting heavily on a return to Earth for it and other meme stocks, such as GameStop Corp.
GME,
-1.67%
AMC shares rose 15.4% on Monday to close at $57, just below its June 2 peak at $62.55, according to FactSet data.
Shares of GameStop, another popular meme stock fell 1.7% but have gained 1,117% thus far this year.
By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.25%,
has rallied more than 12% this year, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.18%
has gained 13.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+0.74%
has advanced 10%.
The performance of so-called me stocks has helped to AMC build a market capitalization approaching $30 billion, though many analysts feel the company will struggle to match its valuation in earnings or revenue.
#AMCDay appears to be a trend that was launched a month ago but was gaining traction on Monday, perhaps, as “The Quiet Place” became the first movie to surpass $100 million at the U.S. box office in the pandemic era and as bullish individual traders anticipated moviegoing to increase in the lead-up to Marvel franchise tentpole “Black Widow,” which was set to make its debut in early July, even as it is set to simultaneously go live on Disney+ Premier for $29.99.
Backers of AMC shares view these developments as bullish.
On social-media platforms, fans touted the day and posted images of diamond hands, which is a term that defines a long-term investor in a popular asset, despite its vagaries.
