NewsGameStop, New Concept Energy, AMC, reddit
Jan 28, 2021 11:38 PM EST
A small company witnesses its shares skyrocketed because of Reddit. The company, employing only around five people and producing quite negligible amounts of oil and natural gas from certain wells in Appalachia became one of the "beneficiaries" of the so-called Reddit's amateur investors.
New Concept Energy became the latest company to benefit from Reddit-fuled day-trading crazing, like GameStop and AMC, especailly when restrictions are placed on the shares of these latter companies. As investors shift their attention to this small company, its value shared nearly 1000% to become a $128 million company - just in a few hours.
New Concept Energy Inc. was discussed by some retail traders on the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit on a day when brokerages including Robinhood Markets restricted the buying and trading of hot shares such as GameStop Corp, as reported by Bloomberg.
GameStop, AMC, and some once never-heard stocks have figured into one of the wildest stock swings the markets have seen in recent years.
This time, its New Concept Energy's turn.
The company is nondescript, if one can call it that.
It produces merely 70 barrels of oil equivalent a day, which is nothing compared to what giant oil companies are producing.
It also has a board whose average age is 74. For the eyes of many, this is not a company that they would probably invest in.
But the Reddit effect somehow changed this, as explained by Financial Corp.
READ MORE: Reddit's r/WallStreetBets is Back; GameStop, AMC Drama Intensifies
The shares were sent up by a whopping 959% to $25, which is its highest since the last two decades, or since 2000.
Short interest in New Concept Energy has also dropped to 0.3% of its float from 13% earlier this January, based on data provided by S3 Partners.
Its stock performance can only be described as simly "meteoric" or out of this world, as some analysts put it.
At the end of 2019, New Concept Energy had a total of 153 producing gas wells and 44 non-producing wells. Regulatory fillings revealed that it has mineral leases across 20,000 acres. Its share performance back then was quite disappointing.
It even lost 46 cents a share on revenue of $590,000 in 2019, based on its annual report.
The restrictions on GameStop shares naturally have a massive role to play in the spread fo Reddit craze to oil. investors of GameStop and other similar shares have expressed their outraaged over the limitations suddenly placed on them, claiming a hedge fund bias truly exists after all. Many took to their social media to blast these restrictions, with many claiming the Wall Street giants being afraid of the so-called amateur Reddit investors, as reported by BBC News.
The limitations caused a sudden drop on GameStop shares, prompting the investors to accuse of manipulating tactics by the more experienced hedge fund managers.
The restrictions, from brokerages including Robinhood Markets Inc., Webull Financial LLC, E*Trade Financial Corp. and Interactive Brokers Group Inc., compelled traders to choose only between two options: hold or sell. That is, if nothing changes soon. Apart from the investors ranting, some members of the Congress even called for hearings on the issue.
READ MORE: GameStop Pause Trading: Reason Why it Ended Early