What Happened?
Shares of video game retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME) jumped 6% in the afternoon session after the company poached a former Best Buy spokesperson, TikTok influencer Rilie Huntley, for a new ad campaign.
Huntley, who previously appeared in Best Buy's advertising, jumped ship to feature in an ad for GameStop. The news was welcomed by investors. This marketing move came shortly after the company's fiscal third-quarter report, which indicated that while overall sales had slipped, profits had improved. That same report also noted a significant bright spot, with sales from its collectibles business having jumped nearly 50% year over year.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
GameStop’s shares are very volatile and have had 25 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock dropped 24.1% on the news that the company announced plans to raise up to $1.3 billion in convertible debt for corporate purposes, including acquiring Bitcoin. Yes, Bitcoin. The stock's reaction suggested markets were struggling to reconcile the potential impact of the crypto asset on GameStop's balance sheet, given the volatile nature of the digital currency, which could be too much of a risk for some investors to bear. The stock was also likely down due to concerns about the dilutive effect of the debt, which can be converted to the company's ordinary stock, raising the total share count.
GameStop is down 26.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $22.43 per share, it is trading 35.9% below its 52-week high of $35.01 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of GameStop’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $6,477.
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