If you can believe it, it's now one year since the GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) short squeeze exploded into the public consciousness.
That episode, which saw shares for the video game retailer rise 1,500% in just a fortnight, brought mainstream attention onto the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets.
The group plan to buy up GameStop stock to inflate its flagging share price was allegedly hatched in that discussion channel.
The term "meme stock" had well and truly arrived.
Crowd-picking stocks on social media and online chats has become so influential that institutional investors are now reportedly keeping a close eye on these forums.
As such, it's always interesting to keep tabs ourselves.
So let's take a look at the 5 most-discussed stocks on WallStreetBets as of Tuesday January 11 Australian time, thanks to statistics from Swaggy Stocks:
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA)
- GameStop Corp
- Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY)
- Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ: QQQ)
- Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA)
Electric cars, cannabis and computer chips
Electric car maker Tesla needs no introduction, and regularly features among the most-discussed shares on Reddit.
After multiplying its share price 8-fold in 2020, punters were certainly interested in whether Elon Musk's company had become overvalued.
The bulls won out in 2021, seeing their shares increase another 50%.
The debate apparently still continues in 2022.
Tilray is a Canadian cannabis company that grows the plant in Canada and Europe and then sells it into the fast-growing US market.
The company listed on the NASDAQ in July 2018 with an initial public offer price of US$17 per share.
Many of those original investors may have left by now, with the share price languishing at US$7.29. It has lost 41% of its valuation just in the past 12 months.
Are the Redditors planning a crowd-induced surge?
Invesco QQQ Trust is an exchange-traded fund that tracks the NASDAQ-100 (NASDAQ: NDX) index.
With a heavy technology bias, the ETF has lost about 4.5% since the start of this year, so there may be some debate on WallStreetBets about buying the dip.
Rounding out the top 5 is chipmaker Nvidia.
Despite its origins in graphics processing units, the company has seen spectacular growth thanks to its innovations in artificial intelligence and data analytics.
Shareholders have enjoyed a marvellous ride, with the Nvidia stock price surging more than 10-fold over the past 5 years.
But despite still doubling over the past 12 months, the stock has cooled considerably in recent weeks. Since 7 December, Nvidia shares have lost 15.5%.
No wonder there is some discussion on Reddit as to whether it's a buying opportunity.
It's worth noting that Reddit is itself planning to list publicly this year, confidentially filing for an initial public offer last month.
No doubt Reddit shares will also make an appearance soon as one of the most-discussed shares.
