Video game retailer GameStop (GME) has a strategy. No, really. Stop laughing. It does have a strategy, declares CEO Ryan Cohen in an interview with CNBC. And that strategy does, at least in some parts, make sense. But investors were still concerned that its primary revenue stream is about to dry up for good, and shares slipped modestly in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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First, GameStop’s strategy is not to be the next MicroStrategy (MSTR), despite the fact that GameStop, like MicroStrategy, has recently bought a large amount of Bitcoin. Cohen declared that the Bitcoin stash is a “…hedge against inflation and global money printing….” Cohen also noted that “…we’ll see what happens” down the line, as far as the true value of its 4,710-Bitcoin-strong stash.
Aside from that, GameStop’s strategy is reasonable if limited. It has been working to cut costs, streamline operations, and close some of its brick-and-mortar operations, which have been struggling in recent years. Indeed, GameStop’s over-building has been an issue in the past. I personally remember a time when I could walk out of a GameStop location near me, look across the expansive parking lot, and into the window of a completely separate GameStop. Aside from that, Cohen revealed plans to be “…opportunistic…” and also “…only look for opportunities where the downside is limited and there’s a lot of upside.”
The Auction of an Infamous Stapler
Cohen is also making hay while the sun shines, reports note, with plans to auction off a now-infamous stapler. A stapler that damaged screens on several Nintendo (NTDOY) Switch 2 consoles is being auctioned off to raise money, making it an infamous figure in gaming history.
But Cohen stepped things up. If the bidding reaches six figures, he would include a pair of his own underwear in the listing. Should the bidding clear the seven-figure mark, Cohen revealed, he would personally hand-deliver his shorts and the stapler to the winner, and then take the winner to a celebratory lunch at, of all places, McDonald’s (MCD). The bidding recently cleared the $200,000 mark, so Cohen had best start finding a pair of shorts to give up.
Is GameStop a Buy, Sell or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on GME stock based on one Sell assigned in the past three months from Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese, as indicated by the graphic below. Reese has a five-star rating on TipRanks. After a 16.96% loss in its share price over the past year, the average GME price target of $13.50 per share implies 42.5% downside risk.
