Why BofA Is Bearish On GameStop Stock: 'Turnarounds Are Tough'
GameStop shares have rallied over the last two days, likely due to strong interest from retail traders once again. One analyst is out with a bearish take on the gaming retailer.
The GameStop Analyst: BofA Securities analyst Curtis Nagle reiterated an Underperform rating on GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) with a $10 price target.
The GameStop Takeaways: GameStop is seeing strong interest from retail traders once again, Nagle said in a Friday time.
The difference this time is that the trades are not being made for the same reasons, the analyst said.
“GME’s current short interest is close to 25% of shares outstanding compared to over 100% in January. To put that into another context, GME’s trading volume over the past two days is around 15x the current number of shares short,” he said.
Retail traders used a David vs. Goliath story of taking on hedge funds who were short the stock during January’s rally.
A turnaround for the struggling physical gaming retailer is an uphill battle, Nagle said.
GameStop has negative EBITDA and declining engagement, the analyst said — two factors that could slow a turnaround.
Nagle also questioned whether a push into online sales could help the company, as it may could at the cost of hurting the company’s high-margin pre-owned and collectible segments.
BofA's price target is based on 8x fiscal 2022 EV/EBITDA. The company’s five year average of the EV/EBITDA metric is 4x versus an average of 10x from the hardlines category.
GME Price Action: Shares of GameStop were down 2.42% at $106 at last check Friday.
Related Link: Second Life? GameStop Spikes 103% As Reddit Stocks Surge Again
Photo by Phillip Pessar via Wikimedia.
Latest Ratings for GME
Jan 2021 | B of A Securities | Maintains | Underperform | |
Jan 2021 | Telsey Advisory Group | Downgrades | Outperform | Underperform |
Oct 2020 | Jefferies | Downgrades | Buy | Hold |
View More Analyst Ratings for GME
View the Latest Analyst Ratings
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