Roaring Kitty might be kicking off a new meme stock frenzy, trading video games for pet toys.
Keith Gill, meme stock ringleader better known by his social media persona Roaring Kitty, posted a cartoon photo of a dog on X $TWTR on Thursday afternoon. Within minutes, shares of pet brands Chewy and Petco spiked.
Chewy, the online pet supply company founded by current GameStop $GME CEO Ryan Cohen, surged roughly 30% in intraday trading following the post. Petco also saw a brief 12% jump, before dropping back into the red.
As of Thursday afternoon, Chewy stock was up a little more than 2%, trading at $29.82 per share. Petco stock was down 1.95%, to $3.26 per share.
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, who is likely behind the Chewy and Petco spikes, is something of an expert on the matter. Gill gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for his bullish analysis of GameStop on Reddit $RDDT, 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 last month, 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 earlier this 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.
GameStop stock was up 3% in afternoon trading, likely in part due to Gill’s post.