Matt Furlong is GameStop's fifth CEO to leave in five years
GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) is down 19.3% at $21.09 at last check, after the video game retailer reported wider-than-expected first-quarter losses and a revenue miss. The company also fired CEO Matt Furlong, who is now the fifth CEO to leave in five years, and made top shareholder Ryan Cohen its new executive chairman. In turn, Wedbush cut its price target.
Options volume is already running at nine times the intraday average, with 119,000 calls and 76,000 puts across the tape so far today. The weekly 6/9 20- and 19-strike puts are the most popular contracts, with new positions opening there. This means these traders see additional downside for GME by tomorrow's close.
At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the security's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.84 ranks higher than 84% of readings from the past year, indicating calls have been much more popular than usual of late.
Short sellers are firmly in control, however, with the 57.32 million shares sold short now making up 21.6% of the security's available float, or more than two weeks' worth of pent-up buying power.
Shares are today trading at their lowest level since early May, and pacing for their worst single-day percentage loss since June 2021. The security has also gapped below recent support from the 20-day moving average, and now carries a 39.4% year-over-year deficit.