It’s time to move on from the trailblazers like GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC (NYSE:AMC) and embrace the new MAGA meme stock trend. All politics aside, two of the largest gainers we have seen this year came on Friday when Digital World Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:DWAC) and Phunware, Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) went parabolic after former President Trump announced his new social media platform. DWAC is the SPAC that is bringing Truth Social public via a reverse merger and jumped from just under $10.00 per share to a high of $175.00 in 48 hours. But what’s the deal with Phunware, a company that basically nobody had heard about before Trump made his announcement?
▸ Phunware is one of these tech companies that has its hands in every cookie jar. It describes itself as a company that deals with mobile applications, blockchain technology, ad software, and location tracking. So basically any new tech trend that is popular. Until Friday, the stock was a dud. We don’t mean a stock that is trading in a range with a long consolidation and little price action. We mean a penny stock that was barely hanging onto its NASDAQ compliance prices. The previous high in 2021 was just over $3.00 per share, so it came as a surprise to everyone that the stock ran 1,500% in one session to hit $24.04, before closing the session at $8.74 which was still good for a 471% gain. Everyone was surprised, that is, except for Chatterquant members who were alerted as early as $1.56 and then once again a $7.66.
So what does a company like Phunware have to do with Trump’s social media platform being announced? To be blunt, it’s one giant steaming pile of speculation. To be fair, speculation is a major driver of the markets but in the case of Phunware it’s definitely a bit of a reach. Back when Trump was still the President, Phunware developed and managed a mobile app for his re-election campaign. A USA Today article that highlighted Phunware’s role in the Trump-Pence 2020 campaign was being circulated by retail investors on Reddit and Twitter during PHUN’s epic surge.
But that’s the extent of Phunware’s ties to Trump. There has not been any announcement from either side confirming that Phunware will be involved in Truth Social at all. This is probably one of the reasons why the stock pulled back by the end of the session on Friday, and why DWAC remains the most trending ticker on Reddit through the weekend, while PHUN has more or less fallen off the radar.
What are the chances that Phunware is actually tasked with developing Truth Social? Well, we know that developing and maintaining a major social network costs a lot of money. Just for comparison’s sake, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is worth $915 billion, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) is worth $49 billion, and Snap (NYSE:SNAP) is worth $87 billion. Phunware has a market cap of $664 million, and that is only after the stock went into orbit. Now, we understand that market cap isn’t the best measure of a company’s future ability, but we’d certainly question the quality of a social media platform developed by a company the size of Phunware.
▸ But let’s be serious here, company fundamentals have become detached from the price of the stock this year. Come Monday morning, Phunware could rally back to $24.00 or fall back down to $1.00. Current social sentiment suggests that PHUN is falling out of favor with retail investors on Reddit and Twitter, so our money is definitely on DWAC to continue the strength that the SPAC stock saw during Friday’s session. You may have missed out on PHUN’s 1,500% rally, but there’s only one way to make sure you never miss out on a move like this again. Check out that mega green candle, which is the exact moment in time when Chatterquant members scored big if they followed our PHUN alert.
So pardon the pun, but it’s been PHUN seeing which Truth Social-related stocks are going to skyrocket next. At Chatterquant we are constantly monitoring social media platforms to see exactly which ticker symbols are being discussed the most. Both DWAC and PHUN came out of nowhere last week, and made single-day gains that put GameStop and AMC to shame. Just take a look at where we first sent out an alert on DWAC as well!
So that’s two stocks we alerted from unusual social media discussion that ended up being historic gainers. The MAGA meme craze is only getting started with Truth Social expected to be set for public use at some point in 2022. DWAC and PHUN were incredible, but last week we also alerted Chatterquant users on Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:BENE), Pinterest (NASDAQ:PINS) after the rumor surfaced about being potentially acquired by PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), and retail favorite ContextLogic (NASDAQ:WISH) as well. Sentiment indeed matters, and we here at Chatterquant are changing the game for retail investors. Make sure you check us out so that you never miss a 1,500% single-day gainer again!