GameStop shares leap 21%; ‘Roaring Kitty’ stock, options investment climbs to $85M

GameStop (NYSE:GME) shares closed up 21% on Monday, contributing to pushing up the value of the stock-and-options stake held by influential investor Keith Gil in the video games retailer to +$85M.

GameStop (GME) shares jumped 21% to close at $28, with a renewed fire in the meme-stock’s price lit after Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, on Sunday revealed a stake in the company valued at about $115.7M in shares, call options and cash.

Gil on Monday afternoon posted an updated, unverified screenshot on Reddit (RDDT) indicating he logged a daily paper gain of $78.6M by holding on to the 5M GameStop (GME) shares and 120,000 June 21 call options he had previously purchased.

With that move, Gil was up +48% to $85.46M in his stock and options investment. Gil’s portfolio also has +$29M in cash. The Jun 21 call options, with a $20 strike price, showed a last price of $10. Gil’s snapshot showed his purchase price was $5.67 each. GameStop (GME) shares had risen as much as 75% on Monday, but the gains were sharply pared back.

As Monday’s session wore on, the Wall Street Journal reported Morgan Stanley’s (MS) E*Trade is considering kicking Gil off the online brokerage platform’s due to growing concern over potential stock manipulation. The report cited people familiar with the matter.

Shares of GameStop (GME) have climbed about 129% so far this year in a renewed meme-stock rally that also includes AMC Entertainment (AMC), Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (FFIE) and other highly shorted stocks.