GoPro Spikes As Another Takeout Rumor Makes The Rounds

GoPro Inc GPRO shares are up 3 percent on Thursday following yet another round of buyout chatter. The latest round of rumors suggests that GoPro may be drawing interest from private equity investors. However, as usual, there is little evidence to back up the gossip.

GoPro has been the subject of buyout rumors at least three different times in the past month. Unfortunately for GoPro bulls, there has been very little follow-through for the stock after brief short-term spikes. Even after Thursday’s gain, GoPro shares are down 6.6 percent in the past month and 48.6 percent year-to-date.

One of the reasons the market may be so jittery when it comes to GoPro buyout rumors is because of the stock’s massive short interest. According to shortsqueeze.com, GoPro currently has a short percent of float of 32.1 percent. That translates to more than 32.7 million shares held short with 8.5 days to cover.

Many analysts and investors are skeptical of GoPro’s long-term value as an investment, including Jim Cramer. Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry went so far as to call GoPro stock “total garbage.”

Of course, with such a huge short interest, any substantiated buyout rumors could trigger a massive short squeeze. That risk likely means that GoPro’s share price will likely continue to move any time the market gets a whiff of a new GoPro rumor.