Meme stocks are a part of the new investment world and are always an interesting topic to revisit. The social media world has given a much greater voice and larger platform to the average investor, who doesn’t have as many resources as a hedge fund for example.
Individuals on popular social media sites like Reddit, X and Facebook now regularly discuss the class of shares known as meme stocks.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is one of the more interesting and reasonable meme stocks overall. It’s sort of funny that SPY shares have become associated with the meme stock movement.
I say that because spy shares track the performance of the S&P 500, which is itself among the most stable investments that there are. However, meme stocks focus on highly volatile, speculative firms, not the 500 largest publicly listed firms in the U.S.
The ETF Has gained a lot of notoriety over the past few years because it has basically emerged as a way to bet on a market crash.
Meme investors have routinely purchased spy puts over the last few years as a way to potentially profit from a market crash. Unfortunately for them, the S&P 500 has rebounded strongly in 2023. The Spy ETF is nearing its all-time highs.
I believe meme stock investors should consider buying spy shares at the moment with a glass half full mentality. I believe 2024 is going to be a stronger year still for the markets.
Tesla (TSLA)
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is perhaps the best known meme stock of all because Elon Musk is its CEO. Musk is an incredibly polarizing character who seems to love the limelight. Therefore, it should be no surprise that he finds himself the subject of meme after meme.
Whether it’s in relation to SpaceX, Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD), or Tesla itself, Elon Musk is a very meme-worthy individual.
Anyway, Tesla is one of the more talked about meme stocks on r/wallstreetbets. A lot of the people who are discussing Tesla on that subreddit focus on the same kinds of things that you might hear in the Wall Street Journal, for example.
They realize that the company is facing lower margins and has to push for greater market share at the moment and that even if the company doesn’t succeed in that regard; it isn’t doomed. They know well that Tesla can leverage many talking points, including AI, and that alone may serve as a strong enough catalyst to propel share prices higher.
DraftKings (DKNG)
DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) has emerged as an excellent growth stock and meme stock over the past few years.
People love to gamble and DraftKings continues to expand its footprint as more and more jurisdictions open up legal gambling. That has resulted in fundamental improvements for the firm overall.
For example, DraftKings saw its revenues increase by 57% to $790 million in the third quarter.
Those strong results allowed the company to increase its total guidance for fiscal year 2023. The company had given guidance that it expected revenues between $3.46 billion to 3.54 billion in 2023. It upped that range to between $3.67 billion and $3.72 billion following its Q3 earnings release.
There’s a strong fundamental argument that favors investing in DraftKings irrespective of its status as a meme stock. Those who follow DraftKings on r/wallstreetbets make a variety of comments, some of them quite funny.
For example, one commenter noted that CNBC’s analysis of DraftKings considered DraftKings a buy because, in its words, gen Z and millennials are a bunch of degenerate gamblers. Regardless, it’s a solid business.
Fisker (FSR)
I have long assumed Fisker (NYSE:FSR) would be doing much better now than it is. My colleagues and I at InvestorPlace have discussed Fisker dozens of times in the lead up to the release of its ocean SUV earlier this year.
I was sold on the idea that the company would do well because of its manufacturing choices. I believed that its decision to use Magna International (NYSE:MGA) to produce the Ocean would lead to a strong stock overall.
It hasn’t been enough. Fisker has been plagued by multiple problems. Some of them, like the current issues affecting the EV sector at large, are beyond its control. Fisker is squarely to blame for others. The company has slashed its production guidance multiple times since May of this year.
The company most recently slashed its production guidance to 10,000 vehicles for all of 2023. Back in May, the company expected 36,000 vehicles produced. That fell to $23,000 and then to 17,000, only to fall again to that more recent number. The company is now dealing with material accounting issues that have led to the departure of multiple executives.
The reason to buy: it’s now so cheap that it may only have the potential to rebound.
AMD (AMD)
Purchase AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) shares because it is heading into 2024 is one of the AI stocks with the most potential. Don’t do what this guy did and overextend yourself. Behavior like his is one reason that meme stocks have developed a bad reputation.
Regardless, AMD has emerged over the last month and a half as arguably the best artificial intelligence stock heading into 2024. Nvidia, of course, remains the king of artificial intelligence. However, some chinks have emerged in Nvidia’s armor with the release of AMD’s mi300 accelerator GPUs.
AMD has seen its stock rise by 50% over the last 6 weeks as news about the MI300 GPU reverberates across Wall Street. It’s going to ship the chips in 2024 and it already appears that demand will be significant. Leading firms have expressed their desire to buy the MI300 GPU as a replacement for Nvidia’s h100 chip.
Tilray (TLRY)
Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) Is quite a weak cannabis stock but a cannabis stock nonetheless. It’s also one of the meme stocks that garners the most attention within the cannabis sector which is likely headed higher.
Tilray has seen a lot of positive action over the past few days and that is largely a reflection of a few factors. Frankly, there are many other better investments than Tilray and many better investments within the cannabis sector as well. However, none of them have a bigger name than Tilray and that matters.
The company will release its upcoming earnings report on Jan. 9 And will probably remain weak. Tilray perpetually produces substantial net losses that are reason enough to avoid its stock. I’ve been a strong detractor of investing in the company.
However, I think it is in a position to rise in the near term. The reason is simple: Tilray is introducing more chocolate cannabis snacks that have greater margins.
That truth, along with continued pardons from President Biden for marijuana crimes, implies that Federal legalization remains a possibility. To be clear, I still don’t like Tilray on a fundamental basis, but I believe it has a strong chance to rise in price for the aforementioned reasons.
Bowlero (BOWL)
Bowlero (NYSE:BOWL) Is the largest operator of bowling centers globally. The company Last released earnings in early November. The company reiterated guidance for the full year at that time that reiterates a 10% increase in sales in 2023 overall.
Bowlero is benefiting from highly positive analyst sentiment. It has a unanimous “buy” rating from all 10 analysts covering its shares. Sites that track investor sentiment also rate Bowlero highly in the short-term.
Bowlero is an interesting company because it has invested heavily in M&A within the industry. It’s also interesting because bowling is an activity or sport that doesn’t get a lot of attention.
That said, it is expected to continue to grow at a moderate rate through 2028. Some Reddit commenters consider bowling a dying sport. However, the market research suggests that the aging Millennial population could drive a resurgence in the sport. Whatever the case, the company is well received and regarded by analysts.
On the date of publication, Alex Sirois did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
