What happened
GameStop (GME 3.01%) reported its second-quarter 2021 financial results last night. Investors still closely watch the original meme stock to see if the anticipated turnaround spurred by the hiring of online retailing executive Ryan Cohen as chairman can justify the stock's high valuation. The reaction pretty much tells the story this morning: As of 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, shares were down more than 9%.
So what
It wasn't so much what management said that disappointed investors as what it didn't say. The first quarterly conference call under new CEO Matt Furlong lasted less than 10 minutes, and the company didn't take questions from analysts. Retail traders who pushed shares to new heights and created the meme stock genre might now be losing faith.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Even with today's drop, GameStop still has a $15 billion market cap. Retail investors hope to justify that with an explosion of growth in the company's online business. In addition to Cohen's online experience, Furlong, who started in June, has e-commerce experience from his previous role with Amazon (AMZN 1.66%).
While the company grew sales by more than 25% compared to the prior-year quarter, GameStop reported another net loss. Perhaps more importantly, it didn't give investors any real information on its strategy.
The failure of the company to take questions on the conference call prompted one analyst to tell investors to "sell the stock first, ask questions later." Many seem to be following that advice this morning.
