10 Quotes From Movies That Explain GameStop’s Irrational Price Swings
Shares of GameStop (NYSE:GME) have rewarded investors very well in 2021. The stock had gains of about 250% for the past year with a closing price of $128.06 on Jan. 12. 2022. On the other hand, GME stock has already losses of 15% in 2022. The erratic moves of the stock with a 52-week range of $33.05 -$483 were fueled by the meme stocks trend.
I have written two articles on GameStop “GameStop Serves Food for the Bears” and “Without a Solid Business Plan, GameStop Isn’t Worth It” and my thesis was “I do not like the stock, its fundamentals, or certainly its lofty price. “I also wrote: “Don’t confuse a reduced price for a good price.”
In this article on GME stock, I will mention some quotes on investing from two iconic movies, “Wall Street” and the “Wolf of Wall Street.” I find these quotes to be not only applicable to the real story behind this meme stock mania but valuable as advice too.
10 Investing Quotes From Movies on GME Stock
- “I don’t throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.”
- “If you need a friend, get a dog”
- “The mother of all evil is speculation”
- “I look at a hundred deals a day. I pick one”
- The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good”
- “The most valuable commodity I know of is information”
- “Money never sleeps”
- “97% of the people who quit too soon are employed by the 3% who didn’t.”
- “People don’t buy stock; it gets sold to them. Don’t ever forget that.”
- “Risk is what keeps us young.”
Why did I choose these 10 quotes about investing in GME stock? They relate in a perfect way to the main catalyst the drove Gamestop to make a high of $483, build fast wealth for some bold and lucky investors and then collapse to $128 per share.
I will add also another bonus quote: “OK, the first rule of Wall Street. Nobody — and I don’t care if you’re Warren Buffet or Jimmy Buffet — nobody knows if a stock’s going up, down or f… sideways least of all stockbrokers, but we have to pretend we know.” This was a great quote from the “Wolf of Wall Street” and the power of the popular Wall Street Bets Reddit social media forum.
Movie Quotes: Trendy Yet Powerful
Let’s think about what the real intentions are behind these quotes. Was GME stock a sure thing investment?
Investors and traders who believed in the fear of missing out (FOMO) and fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) pushed GME stock up to an irrational price. These social media forums seemed to be providing the hottest investing tips at one time, people with no knowledge on how to analyze the fundamentals of equities speculated and some got lucky, some were not.
Speculation is always a key driver of the stock market. What about greed?
Unlucky investors who bought GME stock at high prices now have huge losses. Greed is about being quick, making decisions at the speed of light.
Information is also another priceless commodity. Without proper information, investment decisions are based on luck, and chances are they will not be optimal. Money for sure never sleeps, take for example the cryptocurrency market, it is open all day long. There is too much information about the stock market on daily basis, it is so hard to keep up with all of it.
Meme Stocks Like GME Stock Were a Trap
The rush to quit the rat race, 9-5 job is very appealing. And GME stock seemed to be the trade of the decade. The forums that supported it most probably were on the buy side even as the stock was falling off fast from its 52-week high. After all, it may seem like a small correction. Why quit on this winner?
Well, it turned out not to be a small correction, but a massive one.
In the end, when you have very limited information is it probably better to not buy into a “meme” stock craze. You can get duped very easily into buying a stock with poor fundamentals. Only because it seems like a hot stock “going to the moon.”
Stock investing is about risks, but more specifically about a balance between risk and return. The rush to make money, get rich quick, retire early is intense. This could lead to bad investment choices . If you do not respect the market and keep important concepts like risk/reward ratio or stop loss in mind, then the market will not respect you either. You are just another investor, one of many, why should the stock market respect you? Money is an endless move from unlucky and unsophisticated investors to more lucky and wise ones.
‘Greed is good…’ Sometimes
I love all these quotes, but if I had to choose one, I would choose “greed is good.” Provided that you know what you’re doing, then yes, it is good. Otherwise, it is a lethal weapon that in the hands of novice investors it can lead them to massive losses of capital.
GME stock in 2021 made an irrational price surge, and a rational selloff. Is the meme party is over in 2022?
I argue that yes, meme stocks should turn out of favor. Money does not sleep and it is already looking for other investments in what will likely be a challenging year.
On the date of publication, Stavros Georgiadis, CFA 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.
Stavros Georgiadis is a CFA charter holder, an Equity Research Analyst, and an Economist. He focuses on U.S. stocks and has his own stock market blog at thestockmarketontheinternet.com/. He has written in the past various articles for other publications and can be reached on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
