After a rapid upward shift in previous days, Rumble (RUM 0.60%) stock was gaining again in Tuesday morning trading. The share price was up 3.7% as of noon ET, though it had been up by as much as 17.2% earlier in the session.
NASDAQ: RUM
Key Data Points
On Friday, Rumble announced that it's on track to receive a large investment from Tether -- the company behind the Tether (USDT +0.00%) stable-coin cryptocurrency. Tether has agreed to invest $775 million in the streaming video specialist, and it's receiving new bullish meme-stock attention as a result.
Rumble surges on $775 million Tether investment
Tether will be purchasing 103 million shares of newly created Rumble stock at a price of $7.50 per share. The streaming video specialist will be using $250 million of the proceeds to fund growth initiatives. The remaining proceeds will be used to buy back stock from current shareholders at a price of $7.50 per share.
Rumble's business has been posting significant losses and going through its cash reserves at a relatively rapid pace. The company posted a net loss of $31.5 million in the third quarter and closed out the period with $132 million in cash and short-term equivalents. The additional $250 million it will have on its books after it completes its self-tender buyback initiative will extend its ability to fund its operations by two more years based on its current cash-burn rate.
On the heels of the announcement, Rumble stock exploded. It's now up by 103% over the last month of trading. While the influx of capital is good news for the business, there are reasons to be skeptical about whether the stock's recent momentum can be sustained.
What's next for Rumble stock?
The investment from Tether has reignited meme stock momentum for Rumble. It's possible that continued meme-stock momentum or hopes that Tether will radically transform the business will further boost the company's share price. But the fundamentals of the deal and the streaming video service's business suggest that investors should be careful.
Though it is selling new stock to Tether, the plan to buy back shares from other shareholders would make this deal minimally dilutive to existing shareholders. On the other hand, the stock now trades far above the level at which Rumble is both selling stock to Tether and at which it aims to repurchase shares. With the stock rocketing higher on the relatively moderate liquidity infusion that will occur assuming the share buyback is completed, Rumble may want to quickly sell new stock at levels that have a much larger dilutive impact.
Additionally, the fundamentals of the company are not inspiring. Its engagement and monetization metrics have been relatively weak even with the tailwinds of the recent election, and the business is not scaling effectively. At this point, investors in Rumble are either making a meme-stock play or a bet that Tether can play an active and useful role in either continually sustaining or radically reshaping its struggling business.
