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Chewy stock climbed as much as 20% in pre-market trading Monday, thanks to a newly-disclosed show of support from meme stock booster “Roaring Kitty.”
A Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Keith Gill, the investor better known by his social media persona, bought more than 9 million shares in the online pet food retailer. That comes out to a roughly 6.6% stake in the company and establishes him as its third-biggest shareholder.
Gill’s filing include an additional disclosure that he is “not a cat,” something which is not seen in similar filings with the regulator. During a 2021 congressional hearing discussing the GameStop trading craze, Gill told the House Financial Services Committee that “I am not a cat,” nor a hedge fund or institutional investor.
Chewy stock has since shed those pre-market gains. Shares are now down more than 3%.
Chewy stock surged 30% on Thursday after Gill posted a cartoon photo of a dog on X. Fellow pet retailer Petco also got a boost after the photo, but the gains haven’t lasted. Petco stock was down more than 8% on in early trading Monday, likely because Gill’s investment was revealed to be in Chewy.
The brief spikes in stock price are characteristic of so-called meme stocks: shares of companies that become wildly popular online and are traded feverishly by retail and individual investors, sending prices soaring regardless of the company’s actual operating results or prospects.
Gill gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for his bullish analysis of GameStop on Reddit, where he goes by the username “DeepF—ingValue.” He drove the first short-squeeze of the video game retailer’s stock in early 2021, which saw its shares surge more than 1,000% in a matter of weeks.
He kicked off a renewed meme stock frenzy around GameStop stock in May, when he broke his three-year social media hiatus by posting a meme on X that fans interpreted as a signal to start buying up the retailer’s shares. While the meme stock excitement fizzled out faster this time around than it did in 2021, Gill tried to revive it last month by posting screenshots of his portfolio on the Reddit forum r/Superstonk and hosting his first YouTube livestream in roughly three years. But both efforts failed to make GameStop stock pick up (and maintain) steam.
Chewy itself has a GameStop connection: Its founder is the gaming retailer’s CEO, Ryan Cohen. Kitty has expressed support for Cohen, saying on last month’s livestream that Cohen “has a good head on his shoulders.”