Citron Research, one of the most prominent GameStop short sellers, is no longer short on GameStop (GME) stock.
The popular short seller closed its GME short position due to “the market’s irrationality” and “cult-like” shareholder behavior, Citron Research announced in a June 12 X post:
“Citron is no longer short GME. It’s not because we believe in a turnaround for the company fundamentals will ever happen, but with $5 billion in the bank, they have enough runway to appease their cult-like shareholders.”
The announcement comes shortly after GME’s stock price rose above the $30 mark, following a 22.8% intraday rally on Tuesday. GME is currently trading at $30.49, up 3.3% in pre-market trading, according to Google Finance data.
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Citron cites $20-billion Dogecoin valuation
Wedbush Securities GameStop analyst Michael Pachter has set an “underperform” rating on GameStop, with a 12-month price target of $11, implying an over 60% correction from today’s price.
Despite the bearish price target, Citron Research decided to exit its short position due to the current irrationality in the capital markets, according to the firm’s X post:
“Despite Wedbush setting an $11 target today, we respect the market’s irrationality. After all, Dogecoin remains a $20 billion entity. While the increased share count might temper the mob mentality, Citron will be watching from the sidelines for now.”
Citron drew a parallel with the world’s largest memecoin, Dogecoin (DOGE), which currently sits at a $20.2-billion market capitalization without offering any underlying utility or intrinsic value to users. The valuation of memecoins like Dogecoin is driven purely by social media hype cycles and risk appetite.
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GameStop raises $2.14 billion during rally
During the short squeeze fueled by retail investors, GameStop managed to raise $2.14 billion after completing an “at-the-market” equity offering on June 11, selling 75 million GME shares.
The equity raise came days after GameStop’s price was fueled by Roaring Kitty’s first livestream in over three years. Roaring Kitty, or Keith Gill, is known as the main orchestrator of the GME short squeeze.
Citron Research called Gill’s latest livestream “an insult to capital markets.”
Gill was holding $181.4 million worth of GME stock and call options, according to a June 2 Reddit post.
Gill’s screenshot revealed that he purchased 5 million GME shares for $115.7 million and put $65.7 million into call options, betting that GME would be at least $20 a share on June 21.