4 Meme Stocks to Watch Next Week (That Aren’t $AMC, $GME, or $WISH)

After a relatively slow start to the week on WallStreetBets, comment volume exploded on Friday in several popular meme stocks.

Most of these stocks weren’t present on any of the top comment lists last week, but recent events caused these names to leapfrog Reddit favorites like $AMC, $GME, and $WISH to the forefront of many “autists” minds on Friday. 

Let’s take a look at four meme stocks with major catalysts happening RIGHT NOW.

Meme Stock to Watch 1) DNUT

If there was ever an IPO that seemed to be designed in a laboratory specifically for retail traders, it would be Krispy Kreme Inc. (Nasdaq: DNUT). 

The jellyroll juggernaut first went public 21 years ago — at the peak of the dot-com bubble. But it was eventually bought out and taken private for $1.35 billion in 2016 by JAB Holding, the investment arm of the billionaire Reimann family. 

But over the past several years, the company has undergone a transformation of sorts. That includes opening a massive flagship store in New York City’s famous Times Square last September — complete with a donut-glazing waterfall.

And at that point, Krispy Kreme was probably seeing the amount of money being thrown around in the public markets and wanted to get a piece of the pie (or, rather, the donut).

Here we are now, two weeks into Krispy Kreme’s re-emergence as a public company, and the stock has had a bumpy start. After gaining 23% on its opening day, $DNUT pared its gains over the following two weeks and remains down over 7% since its debut.

However, recent bullish comments on WallStreetBets show signs of life for the glazed giant. Users point out the high daily short volume and general IPO volatility as possible catalysts. And a closer reading shows insider buying in the stock to be the most intriguing tip.

Recent SEC filings from both Krispy Kreme’s director and chair reveal a combined $96 million of insider buys in $DNUT last week. It’s never a bad thing for a stock when company insiders make extremely large purchases.

If you think about it, Krispy Kreme checks all the boxes for qualification as a meme stock. It’s a product millennials love, with a certain nostalgic quality that seems to waft off of many meme stocks. It’s also volatile, as most recent IPOs tend to be. And now it’s getting the options volume and forum chatter required to truly ascend the ranks of meme stock mania.

Meme Stock to Watch 2) SPCE

A meme stock mainstay, space exploration company Virgin Galactic Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) has had a wildly volatile year leading up to a major catalyst this weekend.

From the low point of massive insider selling from both founder Richard Branson and buzzy investor Chamath Palihapitiya … to the high point of completing its first successful space flight in more than two years. It’s been a turbulent ride for $SPCE so far in 2021. 

But now, the company prepares for a moment it’s been waiting for since it was first founded in 2004 — sending visionary founder and lifelong space enthusiast Richard Branson out of the earth’s atmosphere and into the solar system. And it’s on one of Branson’s own rocketships. 

With the launch planned for this Sunday, July 11, retail traders are on the edge of their seats. Space is a sector that FinTwit loves. And $SPCE has long been a favorite, as evidenced by its topping WallStreetBets’ most mentioned equities list on Friday.

That said, traders would be wise to approach any trade around Branson’s launch to $SPCE with caution. The stock’s already up nearly 40% this month — over 200% off of its May lows. That could signal it’s gearing up for a classic ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ event on Monday.

Make sure to sell into strength, cut any losses quickly, and avoid falling victim to FOMO.

Meme Stock to Watch 3) HGEN

While WallStreetBets isn’t known for its focus on biotechnology, this week seems to be different. California-based drug developer Humanigen Inc. (NASDAQ: HGEN) has regularly drawn over 20x its average comment volume on the subreddit. 

Retail traders are excited about lenzulimab, a new drug Humanigen developed to combat cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a deadly disease with high mortality rates that’s been triggered by COVID-19 in some patients. 

Just hours ago, U.K. drug regulators approved an expedited review of lenzulimab, further sparking trader interest in the stock.

One incredibly detailed due diligence post — titled “$HGEN – Potential 10 bagger in the making” — is a prime example of the truly enlightening information you can find on dingy trading subreddits. This Redditor has done the homework, knows a tremendous amount about the company, and gives all the research away for free.

When it comes to trading $HGEN, the volume has been roaring in on July call options. But biotech plays are historically volatile … So, just like $SPCE, trade with caution.

Meme Stock to Watch 4) STMP

An unlikely meme stock, online shipping services company Stamps.com (NASDAQ: STMP) saw its WallStreetBets comment volume surge an INCREDIBLE 108x on Friday as private equity firm Thoma Bravo announced plans to take the company private at $330/share. That’s a whopping 67% premium on $STMP’s closing price on Thursday. 

Never ones to miss a massive move, Reddit retail traders were quick to talk up the trading possibilities around the sale. 

In general, when a company is bought out for a set price, the stock will sit right near that price until it leaves the public market. The chart looks like a flat line. After all, the value has been determined and agreed upon by both parties, so the market tends to go with their valuation. But while the best of this trade may have passed by already, think about how you can use $STMP as a learning lesson.

When options prices ramp thousands of percent overnight due to unexpected news, traders often think they would need to be unbelievably lucky to get in on one of these moves. Sometimes this is true…

For instance, if a natural disaster hits an oil pipeline, causing the tanker company’s shares to — wait for it — “tank” the following day … you’d need some form of time machine to be able to call this and buy puts the night before. Some events are simply impossible to predict before they happen.

But with $STMP’s buyout, this wasn’t the case. A close reading of WallStreetBets over the past few months reveals that users were discussing the undervaluation of $STMP, loading bullish call options, and patiently waiting. And all as others scrambled to enter overcrowded trades in overvalued names (like $AMC) 

The bottom line: The writing was on the wall (or rather, the message board.) Had you sifted through the hundreds of similar comments about $WISH or $SOFI and found the golden nuggets of $STMP due diligence in the rubble, you could have traded this as well.

$STMP is yet another example of retail traders being ahead of the broader market. They may get a bad wrap, but the truth is, WallStreetBets users have individually identified some of the most incredible trading opportunities in recent history. 

Stay tuned, be DISCIPLINED … and it’s possible you too could get in on their next massive play.

Featured cover image editorial credit: Marcus Krauss / Shutterstock.com