5 ms·

I think TSLA and AMD were the original meme stocks.

by llampx 6y ago

airstrike 6y ago
With TSLA and AMD, people at least had a thesis. One may argue those were wild equity stories, but at least they existed. Hertz is a dying company in a dying industry and while I admit I don't follow it closely, I have not seen anyone come up with a defensible story for why one should own that stock.
VHRanger 6y ago
Those at least had a growth story. HRTZ and GME are pure plays on the other hand.
- ex3ndr 6y ago
  Where did you get this about GME? It literally skyrocketed once Chewy team started to take over and transform company.
  - servercobra 6y ago
    Personally, I think 80% of the reason it skyrocketed was for the short squeeze, 20% because of the new team and it being undervalued if you believed in that new team. $30-$40 seems reasonable if you believe the team is gonna turn the company around IMO, but people were putting thousands and tens of thousands into shares because they're hoping the short squeeze puts it to $1k+ (at least that's the meme/not a meme if you believe WSB).
    - camjohnson26 6y ago
      It became a Ponzi effect where buying made the price go up and encouraged more buying. Short interest being so high helped a lot.
  - perardi 6y ago
    OK, what does that even mean? They are a physical store that sells physical games. Physical stores are in dire straits. Some new game consoles don’t even use physical games, namely the base PlayStation and Xbox. What do you even transform into? A dedicated amiibo shop? The future is pretty obviously download-only for games.
    - ex3ndr 6y ago
      Just random though - turn them to a gaming cafe. I could see how from time to time I will join with my friends to play something old school way. For younger it is also cool - escape parents home.
      - perardi 6y ago
        Not a bad idea. Though, N=1, malls have pivoted (sorry) into that sort of live event space mode. When I was visiting family, the local mall had replaced a former anchor store with a really quite nice arcade.
unethical_ban 6y ago
AMD isn't a meme stock - I knew it was going to be a safe bet when it was at 5, but didn't have money to do anything with it. It is guaranteed to exist, as it is the only x86 competitor to Intel, and IIRC their x86 license is non-transferable. It is nvidia's only main competitor. It does its job pretty well. Is it a blue chip in terms of stability? Clearly it is a bit more volatile. But it isn't dying anytime soon.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- perardi 6y ago
  I give myself one good hard slap to the face every morning, because I bought AMD in the ~$5/share range, and then sold when it managed to get to ~$7/share because I didn’t think it was going anywhere. And then I go stand at the window and gaze longingly at my imaginary WRX parked outside. Sigh. If I only had known exactly how badly Intel would do…I bought the stock because I figured they’d get a little bump because of console sales, and then got impatient.
  - camjohnson26 6y ago
    It’s all gambling. People need to stop expecting to strike it rich and just build wealth incrementally. Central banks have made that hard to do though with historically low interest rates and rising risks of inflation.
    - perardi 6y ago
      Mind you, the vast majority of my retirement money is in index funds and other boring investment vehicles. The AMD trade was (reasonable) fun money.
    - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
      Sounds like advice for a previous generation. Then, it contradicts itself by say why it won't work (correctly). Maybe its time to rethink those half-century-old memes like 'build wealth incrementally'.
aphextron 6y ago
The South Sea Company was the original meme stock.
- faceplanted 6y ago
  That's kind of misrepresenting what the South Sea Bubble was, with meme stocks the public are at least in on the joke, the South Sea Bubble was a private conspiracy/social phenomenon of a different fashion.
  - nl 6y ago
    Reading some of the comments here it's pretty clear the many truly believe the GME hype: that it was somehow something more than a short squeeze, and that it is magically going to transform into a business with revenue able to support its current valuation.
perardi 6y ago
AMD was not a meme. If anything it was a proxy for TSMC doing well. The business case was apparent, and it happened: Intel apparently decided to get to their next node using, I don’t know, a magnifying glass and a flashlight, they fell badly behind, and now AMD has an extremely solid position in the high-end enthusiast market, plus a plum spot in PlayStation and XBox sales.
- jboog 6y ago
  It's always interesting how the great investments are always so obvious looking in the rear view mirror.
nl 6y ago
Talking about the idea that AMD was a meme stock on HN seems strange. There were long discussions here before the AMD stock price rise about the technical merits of their platform, and further discussions about how they were getting better and better distribution after it did release. These are pretty fundamental reasons why a stock price might be likely to go up.

I think TSLA and AMD were the original meme stocks.

by llampx 6y ago

I think TSLA and AMD were the original meme stocks.

With TSLA and AMD, people at least had a thesis. One may argue those were wild equity stories, but at least they existed. Hertz is a dying company in a dying industry and while I admit I don't follow it closely, I have not seen anyone come up with a defensible story for why one should own that stock.

VHRanger 6y ago

Those at least had a growth story. HRTZ and GME are pure plays on the other hand.

ex3ndr 6y ago
Where did you get this about GME? It literally skyrocketed once Chewy team started to take over and transform company.
- servercobra 6y ago
  Personally, I think 80% of the reason it skyrocketed was for the short squeeze, 20% because of the new team and it being undervalued if you believed in that new team. $30-$40 seems reasonable if you believe the team is gonna turn the company around IMO, but people were putting thousands and tens of thousands into shares because they're hoping the short squeeze puts it to $1k+ (at least that's the meme/not a meme if you believe WSB).
  - camjohnson26 6y ago
    It became a Ponzi effect where buying made the price go up and encouraged more buying. Short interest being so high helped a lot.
- perardi 6y ago
  OK, what does that even mean? They are a physical store that sells physical games. Physical stores are in dire straits. Some new game consoles don’t even use physical games, namely the base PlayStation and Xbox. What do you even transform into? A dedicated amiibo shop? The future is pretty obviously download-only for games.
  - ex3ndr 6y ago
    Just random though - turn them to a gaming cafe. I could see how from time to time I will join with my friends to play something old school way. For younger it is also cool - escape parents home.
    - perardi 6y ago
      Not a bad idea. Though, N=1, malls have pivoted (sorry) into that sort of live event space mode. When I was visiting family, the local mall had replaced a former anchor store with a really quite nice arcade.

unethical_ban 6y ago

AMD isn't a meme stock - I knew it was going to be a safe bet when it was at 5, but didn't have money to do anything with it. It is guaranteed to exist, as it is the only x86 competitor to Intel, and IIRC their x86 license is non-transferable. It is nvidia's only main competitor. It does its job pretty well. Is it a blue chip in terms of stability? Clearly it is a bit more volatile. But it isn't dying anytime soon.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
perardi 6y ago
I give myself one good hard slap to the face every morning, because I bought AMD in the ~$5/share range, and then sold when it managed to get to ~$7/share because I didn’t think it was going anywhere. And then I go stand at the window and gaze longingly at my imaginary WRX parked outside. Sigh. If I only had known exactly how badly Intel would do…I bought the stock because I figured they’d get a little bump because of console sales, and then got impatient.
- camjohnson26 6y ago
  It’s all gambling. People need to stop expecting to strike it rich and just build wealth incrementally. Central banks have made that hard to do though with historically low interest rates and rising risks of inflation.
  - perardi 6y ago
    Mind you, the vast majority of my retirement money is in index funds and other boring investment vehicles. The AMD trade was (reasonable) fun money.
  - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
    Sounds like advice for a previous generation. Then, it contradicts itself by say why it won't work (correctly). Maybe its time to rethink those half-century-old memes like 'build wealth incrementally'.

aphextron 6y ago

The South Sea Company was the original meme stock.

faceplanted 6y ago
That's kind of misrepresenting what the South Sea Bubble was, with meme stocks the public are at least in on the joke, the South Sea Bubble was a private conspiracy/social phenomenon of a different fashion.
- nl 6y ago
  Reading some of the comments here it's pretty clear the many truly believe the GME hype: that it was somehow something more than a short squeeze, and that it is magically going to transform into a business with revenue able to support its current valuation.

perardi 6y ago

AMD was not a meme. If anything it was a proxy for TSMC doing well. The business case was apparent, and it happened: Intel apparently decided to get to their next node using, I don’t know, a magnifying glass and a flashlight, they fell badly behind, and now AMD has an extremely solid position in the high-end enthusiast market, plus a plum spot in PlayStation and XBox sales.

jboog 6y ago
It's always interesting how the great investments are always so obvious looking in the rear view mirror.

nl 6y ago

Talking about the idea that AMD was a meme stock on HN seems strange. There were long discussions here before the AMD stock price rise about the technical merits of their platform, and further discussions about how they were getting better and better distribution after it did release. These are pretty fundamental reasons why a stock price might be likely to go up.