What happened
Shares of Chinese online sports lottery company 500.com (WBAI +2.79%) jumped as much as 45.3% in trading on Tuesday after the company released fourth-quarter 2020 financial results. Shares kept moving slightly higher all day and were up 43.7% at 2:15 p.m. EST.
So what
Revenue was up slightly to $1.4 million and net loss for the quarter was $8.6 million. Those are hardly impressive figures for a company valued at $913 million, but that may not be what investors are focused on today.
Image source: Getty Images.
In the release today, management made clear that it's going all-in on cryptocurrencies. A recent share offering was priced half in Bitcoin, worth approximately $11.5 million, and the company says it will "explore business opportunities in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries." One move in that direction was the acquisition of 5,900 Bitcoin mining machines for $8.5 million. Cryptocurrencies are hot and that's certainly helping 500.com's stock today.
Now what
It seems there's momentum behind any company that even mentions Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies right now and 500.com is riding that wave. There's just as much, if not more, risk in buying a company like this because of cryptocurrencies than just buying the underlying cryptocurrency itself because there's both currency and operating risk in this stock. That's why this is a pop I would pass on today.
