GameStop (GME) shares surged higher Thursday after the money-losing video game retailer unveiled plans for a four-for-one stock split.
A favorite of retail investors and one of the original 'meme-stocks' that spearheaded last year's trading frenzy, said shareholders will receive a three-stock dividend for each share they own after the close of trading on July 21, with dealing set to begin on a split-adjusted basis the following day.
The split follows a similar move by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) earlier this year, and set for later this month, that would leave investors with one Google stock and a dividend payment of 19 more shares, all priced at around $120 each. Amazon (AMZN) completed its own 20-for-1 stock split last month and Tesla (TSLA) shareholders will vote on a 3-for-1 stock split in early August.
Short interest in GameStop remains elevated, however, with data from S3 Partners showing just over $2.2 billion in bets against the group, a figure that represents around 16.02 million shares, or 25.2% of the stock's outstanding float.
GameStop, which is hoping to transition from a reliance on brick-and-mortar sales to a larger and more dynamic presence online, said revenues for the three months ending in April rose 8.1% from last year to $1.38 billion, with around half of that total coming from its digital channels.
The group still posted a loss of $2.08 per share, however, and decline to take questions from analysts -- as has been the case for several quarters -- on its regular post-earnings conference call.
GameStop shares were marked 9% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $128.00 each, a move that would trim the stock's year-to-date decline to around 13.8%.
