GameStop shares soar after stock offering raises $551M

Chasing GameStop based on retail momentum is not best way to invest: Strategist

Wedbush Securities chief technology strategist on GameStop stock 

GameStop Corp. shares surged Tuesday after the video game retailer announced the completion of its 3.5 million share sale. 

The at-the-market offering raised $551 million before transaction costs. The money will be used to accelerate GameStop’s transformation to an e-commerce based business with fast shipping. 

The company seeks to become the "ultimate destination for gamers" by building a product catalog that covers PC gaming, computers, monitors, game tables, mobile gaming, gaming TVs and other areas.

The project, which is being spearheaded by activist investor Ryan Cohen, has already resulted in a number of changes. 

Last week, GameStop announced CEO George Sherman would depart the company by July 31. The board of directors is in the process of searching for his replacement. 

GAMESTOP INTENDS TO ELECT RYAN COHEN AS CHAIRMAN

Prior to the announcement of Sherman’s departure, Cohen had already made a number of tweaks to GameStop’s leadership team.

He appointed Elliott Wilke, a former Amazon executive, to the role of chief growth officer.

In addition, Andrea Wolfe and Tom Peterson, former vice presidents at online pet supply retailer Chewy, which was co–founded by Cohen, were named to similar roles at GameStop. 

Other changes at the company have included the departure of CFO Jim Bell and the naming of Matt Francis, engineering leader at Amazon Web Services, as the company’s first chief technology officer.

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The changes at GameStop have been welcomed by Wall Street investors who have continued to support shares after a short-squeeze coordinated on the Reddit message board WallStreetBets caused the stock to spike by as much as 1,917% in January. 

While shares have come off their highs, they’re still up 797% this year.

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