Thursday - January 19, 2023

Today's newsletter will take 2.73 minutes to read.

DRS UPDATE: 50.31*% (estimated percent of GME shares direct registered)

*source: Computershared.net

On tap this morning:

• Wednesday recap

• Did you know?

• More About Cost to Borrow

• Ryan Says

Good Morning! This is Mother Squeezer, the newsletter that remains hopeful that we soon get some M&A intel and brings you updates and insights along with timely information about our favorite Activist Investor, Ryan Cohen, and our favorite stocks - GME and BBBY.

Another day down, still no 10-Q filed. In case you've missed it, Bed Bath & Beyond may be late in filing their quarterly report. We say "may" because there's still a chance they filed privately. Many investors think this is due to an imminent Merger & Acquisition that's on the horizon. The 10-Q could reveal what's going on behind the scenes.

buybuy Baby announced this morning the launch of its second exclusive brand, Ever & Ever. Read the release here.

Wednesday Recap: BBBY traded between a low of $3.72 and a high of $4.77 before closing at $3.94. Trading volume was 113.96 million shares.

Cost to borrow: There were 0 shares available to borrow this morning and as of now, 0 remain. The cost to borrow has remained elevated at over 100%. 

Pre market: Bed Bath and Beyond is trading up $0.03 to $3.97 an increase of 0.72% on over 1.8 million volume.

Max pain: The current max pain for BBBY has slipped to $4.50.

Wednesday Recap: GME traded between a low of $20.50 and a high of $22.15 before closing at $20.79. Trading volume was 5.62 million shares.

Cost to borrow: There were 200,000 shares available earlier this morning. Currently there are 150,000 remaining. The cost to borrow has remained steady at 22.1%.

Pre market: GameStop is trading down $0.44 to $20.35 a decrease of 2.12% on 20 thousand volume.

Max pain: The current max pain for GME has remained at $23.50.

Did you know?

As long as a company has a reasonable explanation, the SEC allows late filings of the 10-Q within a specified time period. Common reasons why companies are not able to file on time include mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate litigation or ongoing review by corporate auditors.

More About Cost to Borrow

Our normal source that reports the cost to borrow data has shown BBBY with 0 shares available since January 11. For those of you who are unaware, shares sitting in your brokerage account can be lent out to institutions and hedge funds in order to short a stock.

Borrow rates vary from source to source. Fidelity is typically the least expensive option for borrowing. Recently, we've seen their rate climb beyond 60%. This morning it reached an a record borrow rate of 74%.

IBKR (International Brokers) is showing an increase from 99.33% to 121.37%.

Since cost to borrow is directly affected by supply and demand, we can infer that when the rate climbs exponentially, supply is dwindling while demand remains high.

In previous periods where we saw rapid price ascents, the cost to borrow rates also climbed over 100%.

Ryan Says

Ryan tweeted this yesterday:

Context

Earlier this week, mainstream media reported that Ryan Cohen had bought a stake in Alibaba. The article claimed the purchase was made back in August. We're not sure what the intent in reporting such grossly false information, but did think RC's latest tweet was a shot at this misinformation.

Interesting note, see the mock 4:07 timestamp at the bottom left of the image? RC tweeted this yesterday exactly when BBBY was trading at $4.07. Was this a nod to BBBY investors? We believe so.

RC's tweet history has him primarily tweeting outside of market hours.

Spread the Word

We love Ryan Cohen and think he's the greatest Activist Investor of our generation. We are passionate followers of his moves and words and would love for others to know more about this great leader. We feel strongly that life is all about learning who to follow. If you have someone that needs more RC in their life, share Mother Squeezer with them!

Some of our Favorite Resources

Start Here

BBBY: Ben - Mr. Business

GME: Richard Newton

Computershared.net

For errors, omissions or if you have something to share? Let us know!

Financial Disclaimer: None of this is meant to be financial advice. We love Ryan Cohen, RC Ventures, GameStop and Bed Bath and Beyond, and like learning and sharing these insights and commentary.