Author: u/rensole
Good morning San Diago,
I am Rensole,
And I love tendies!
insert flashy intro card
Omar is coming!
Dfv’s newest tweet, a scene from “The Wire”.The character is named Omar, and he is feared by many.
https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1366430996690841600
The new hires.
The new hires Kelli Durkin and Josh Krueger have started since yesterday, this is who they are and what they do;
Kelli Durkin, Senior Vice President of Customer Care – Ms. Durkin, who previously served as Chewy’s Vice President of Customer Service, has a start date of March 1, 2021. She helped establish the world-class customer service operation that positioned Chewy to achieve a Net Promoter Score of 86 in 2018. In her new role, Ms. Durkin will oversee all customer service and engagement initiatives at GameStop.
Josh Krueger, Vice President of Fulfillment – Mr. Krueger, who previously held senior fulfillment roles at Amazon, Walmart, and QVC, has a start date of March 1, 2021. In his new role, Mr. Krueger will oversee the management of e-commerce fulfillment centers.
Well with little news worthy going on lets focus on Gamestop itself today, a more fundamental look at who’s who and why I personally believe, the current price may still be very low for what Gamestop will be in less than a year.
This is partially also because we have been called idiots and morons and have a cultish sentiment when it comes to $GME. so lets get back to some of the basics, on why I believe in the company regardless of a squeeze or not.
What was gamestop?
GameStop used to be your run of the mill company.They bought videogames and sold them, also gaming memorabilia like mugs, shirts, books etc.
As far as I can tell, it was mostly in shopping malls in the usa, shopping malls are kindof a dying breed in and of themselves at this point (even pre covid these things where half empty from what I can remember).
Why gamestop was good then;
Most of us grew up as gamers so we have some sort of sentiment to Gamestop
Gamestop was one of (if not THE) first one to do the buy back of used games.
World wide reach, most companies are only in one country but GME is all over the world, something only a few stores can say
most people without even some form of sentiment to GME will at least go to gamestop once a month, to either go with friends or because of the preorder bonusses
Gamestop Powerup Rewards memberships, you collect points per item bought which gives you a coupon, this incentivizes the customers to become more frequent shoppers and return to the store. Because why buy somewhere else? if you buy it at GME you’ll get a discount if you buy enough. This is also something that a lot of other companies (video game retail) has since picked up (even C list companies in europe now have some sort of thing like this just to compete)
In one of his original videos on the subject, DFV mentioned the GameStop rewards being a great thing for the company because of just the sheer number of people who were signed up for it. I think its worth looking back at that video from so long ago if we’re talking about fundamentals. DFV mentions doing research into general magazine readership and how Game Informer (which is bundled with the rewards membership) had a reader base in the top 5 of all magazines in the US. Specifically he points out being surprised that more people supposedly read Game Informer than Time Magazine as well as a lot of other notable publications. This points to a large customer base that has incentives to return to GameStop for those points and discounts.
started Decentralizing the stores, so it’s not just mall only anymore.
started transitioning to become a hub (readable in their 2019 annual report)
Why GameStop wasn’t good then;
CEO Sherman is a great guy, but he does not understand the digital playing field, this man is known for his other businesses like autoparts store, target, best buy etc not companies known for having a digital footprint.
It had to many stores that where not profitable and these cost money. the overhead was costing more than what they where bringing in
Even though the market had changed, GameStop failed to do so. it did not adapt.
It wasn’t selling a lot of games, why? no clue maybe a smarter someone can tell me.
Annual shareholder letter 2019
So what has changed since 2019?
Well lets take a look at all the things they have changed since then to get a better idea of what we are currently dealing with, and why I think that these changes have changed the company for good.
They added Reggy “My body is ready!” Fils-Aimé the Nintendo guyHe likes to turn companies around is added to the board in 2019 . This man is invaluable, not only is he great at marketing he has enough connections to help the company move forward
GameStop announces multiyear strategic partnership with Microsoft, Details here.
Replaced the CFO, regardless of how you look at it Jim Bell (end) was not good at his job, he has run multiple companies into the ground (like Pf changs and Coldwater creek) so having him replaced is a very good thing in my book, as he does not seem well equipped to handle the transition GME is going to go through.
The new additions to the board, Cohen, Kreuger, Attal, Grube and Durkin. I’ll do a quick TLDR on all of them here:- Ryan Cohen is the manager of RC Ventures and a sizable stockholder of GameStop Corp. Mr. Cohen previously founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY), where he oversaw the company’s growth and ascension to market leadership in the pet industry. Mr. Cohen led the company through its successful sale to PetSmart Inc. for more than $3.3 billion prior to stepping down in 2018. The company is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange with an equity market capitalization of approximately $40 billion. Mr. Cohen has extensive experience in retail, technology and e-commerce.- Alan Attal is a successful e-commerce executive and entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience building and managing businesses. From 2017 through 2018, Mr. Attal served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Chewy Inc. and oversaw an annual acquisition budget of more than $300 million, which was allocated to broadcast, direct mail and digital advertising and engagement initiatives. From 2011 through early 2017, he served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and oversaw its expansion from three people to more than 10,000 employees and $3 billion in revenues.- Jim Grube is a successful business and finance executive with more than two decades of corporate experience. He was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Vacasa, North America’s leading vacation rental management company. He previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Chewy, Inc. from 2015 through 2018. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of Finance at Hilton from 2009 through 2015 and a Director of Finance at Amazon from 2007 through 2009. He began his career working at other leading companies across the technology and transportation sectors. Matt Francis brings more than two decades of experience in e-commerce and consumer technology to GameStop. Most recently, he was an Engineering Leader at Amazon Web Services. He previously held senior-level technology roles at companies such as QVC and Zulily. At GameStop, Mr. Francis will be responsible for overseeing e-commerce and technology functions. For Durkin and Krueger see above.
Cohen’s vision of the company.In november 2020 RC Ventures (Cohens company) sent gamestop a letter which outlines his ideology on a “technology first” company. you can read it here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000101359420000821/rc13da3-111620.pdf
They have cut the fat from the stores, meaning they sold off, or did not continue leases of non profitable stores around the globe, meaning they saved around $ 100 million in overhead costs already.
So taking all these new things into account let’s look at a few things we may have overlooked.
well this sounds cool right? these guys had a talk with our boy Cohen, which is awesome but… “there may be some material non-public information in regards to Cohens strategy to GME”Ok ok cool… so what do these guys think about GME?I mean Domo is not a bad company and they seem to be doing well, also they seem to be in contact with Ryan Cohen, meaning Ryan is smart enough to know he doesn’t know everything and is asking for feedback in some way shape or form with these guys.
Ok so they have been in contact once right? no they have been multiple times, and they have given their thoughts on it.
Now one thing to take into account, they had a conversation about the fundamentals of the company, they wouldn’t care about a squeeze as these people go for long. so lets learn something from them.
At this point it seems that GME is undervalued, even at a 100 bucks a share.
By conservative measurements the company should be between 200/300 now (if the shorts were not on it it would be a very different price again just my opinion).
Cohen and Domo believe that the shares can go to $1000 each.
Seeing the big steps Ryan is taking this may be something that may even be realized, they have now added PC components (an entirely new group as it only sold pc games before), Same day delivery, the deal with Microsoft, the moves they’re making to include Esports as a core part of their business.
These are all things that will affect the stock, as GameStop around next summer, will no longer be the GameStop we have known for so long. We are going to see a whole new GME, a bigger and better one.
And it doesn’t matter if you believe in a squeeze or not, the things I have pointed out above are based on Fundamental changes in the company, and given those points I personally believe that the current Stonk is heavily undervalued.
Moving it from a brick and mortar store, to a “Amazon” like company WITH brick and mortar stores.The evolution Amazon never had the balls to do, but I would love to see.
We are ever more growing into a society where our digital lives and regular lives come closer and closer. 10 years ago streamers where a laughing matter, now they’re part of a lot of daily routines, E-sports was nothing more than Korean kids doing some hardcore Starcraft, now it’s a lot of games (streetfighter tournaments, dota, LOL, Starcraft, csgo, fortnite etc etc) it was a niche, and it now is a multi billion dollar industry. an industry GME is planning on becoming a part of.
So let’s get back to the more light hearted stuff.
who’s share is it anyway?
So given all the previous information, taking all that into account, GameStop WAS a dying business, and short sellers rightly thought it was going to go bankrupt, and with COVID accelerating that, they thought it was a sure thing.
Someone needed to remind them that “sir, this is a casino”. They took a bet and they lost. no big deal happens every day right. Well they’re now trying to get out, but they can’t because they would squeeze themselves to death.
Because of Reddit retail investors a lot of people took an interest and the stonk went from 5 to (currently) $120.40
GameStops board has a chance to actually turn around and do what it was meant to do, we have been the catalyst of change regardless of the squeeze, because if we had let the short sellers go on, GME would’ve been long gone (in my opinion).
Now GME finds itself in an excellent position, this month the Q4 Earnings report will come out, this is usually very good and more profitable than the other quarterly earning, We have a new head of the SEC who is being sworn in this month ( a dude with a reputation of grabbing Wall street by the nutsack), we have another hearing of the financial house committee, we have Cohens new group of people on the board, and more importantly regardless of your personal opinion on GME, everyone is talking about it again, and the sentiment is good, hell it’s great!
Now who wants a squeeze?
Honestly at this point IDGAF if the squeeze happens, I’m fairly sure it will happen, but if it doesn’t I’ll be in this long anyway. the more research I do the more I find that I like about the company and the roadmap it’s going down.
this is why I made today’s daily a little more serious and focused it more on some fundamentals, because even if the shorts will try to drive the price down, and even if they will try to start sending shills/trolls or bots or whatever.
They can mock the Squeeze and mock everyone for believing in something, even going as far as to call us the “Qanon of stocks”, but they can’t change the fundamentals of GME.
And those Fundamentals have changed drastically, in such a way that it’s not going to be the same company anymore in less than a few months. and I feel so sure I know for a fact that it will never go back to 10/20 bucks a share in a natural way.
And because the focus has been on the Squeeze itself a lot of people forgot these fundamentals.
Bruce “soon moon” Lee
if you focus on the Squeeze, you’ll forget to look at the rest, and as Wen Moon’s big bro has said once, if you focus to much on one thing you will miss everything surrounding that.
The squeeze will happen because of the shorts, the company will flourish because it has new blood who knows what they are doing to change into a better company.
So please everyone, don’t just focus on the squeeze, focus on the company.
the squeeze will come when it comes, but in the meantime look at the bigger picture because this is what eventually will be a the catalyst for change in the company.
Again none of this is any financial advice, my biggest hero’s in life are Wen Moon and Soon Moon.If I missed anything of todays news, or I’ve forgotten something feel free to say so I’ll put it in an edit below!