If You Invested $1,000 in GameStop Stock When Ryan Cohen's Stake Was Announced, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

One of the biggest stories for the stock market in 2021 was the rise of shares of GameStop Corp GME, a video game retailer. The price spike came from a short squeeze of epic proportions and a David vs. Goliath battle. For some investors, the battle started when it was announced that activist investor Ryan Cohen took a stake in the struggling retailer.

What Happened: Retail investors rallied around GameStop as the stock saw increased pressure from hedge funds and short sellers betting against the stock in 2021.

Short sellers bet on a further decline of the stock or a bankruptcy of the retailer. One of the places where the short squeeze story gained steam was on Benzinga’s “Power Hour” show, where Citron Research’s Andrew Left joined to share his thesis on why he was betting against GameStop.

The storyline of GameStop featured several key players including Left, hedge fund leaders, and Keith Patrick Gill, known as RoaringKitty on YouTube and DeepF***ing Value on Reddit.

A central character in the GameStop saga was also Ryan Cohen, the founder of Chewy Inc. In August 2020, Cohen disclosed a 9% stake in GameStop, showing support for a bet on a turnaround of the retailer that had been struggling at the time. In late 2020, Cohen increased his stake to 13% in the retailer. Cohen paid an average of $8.40 for his GameStop shares in 2020.

Cohen, who is now the Chairman of GameStop, was among those who supported the retail investors and became a hero figure for those betting on the success of the video game company.

With news that short interest in GameStop was more than 100%, investors saw an opportunity to squeeze out the shorts and shares rose substantially, causing millions of dollars in losses for those betting against the stock.

GameStop shares hit a high of $483 in January 2021 and traded between $17.08 and $483 during the 2021 calendar year.

While shares of GameStop have dropped from their highs seen during the hedge fund battle, here’s a look at how investors who followed Cohen have done.

Related Link: Meme King Ryan Cohen Gets Documentary Treatment With Stories Of Chewy, GameStop, Bed Bath & Beyond

Investing $1,000 in GME: It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that a $1,000 bet on GameStop has turned in an impressive return since Cohen’s position was announced.

Based on a share price of $7.30 on Sept. 1, 2020, the day after Cohen’s purchase was unveiled, investors would have been able to buy 137 shares of GameStop. Those 137 shares of GameStop are worth $3,651.05 today, based on a price of $26.65 for GME at the time of writing.

This represents a hypothetical return of 265.1%.

Investors who bought GameStop after Cohen disclosed his purchase and were able to time the trade perfectly to sell at all-time highs of $483 would have enjoyed turning the $1,000 investment into $66,171.

For comparison, the same $1,000 invested in the SPDR S&P 500 Global ETF on Sept. 8, 2020 would be worth $1,225.91 today, for a return of 22.6%.

Read Next: Here's How Much Ryan Cohen Made From His Bed, Bath & Beyond Sales 

Photo: Courtesy of Bill Jerome on Flickr and Shutterstock.