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Luke Kawa3/24/25

One measure of GameStop options positioning is the most bullishly tilted since 2024’s meme stock mania

Ahead of GameStop’s earnings on Tuesday, one measure of options market positioning is the most bullishly tilted since Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, was building up a massive bet on the company in the second quarter of last year, kicking off a frenzy in the stock.

The open interest in GameStop calls is 3.62x higher than the open interest in puts as of Friday.

What’s driving this? Well, mainly that put activity has gone dormant: open interest in bearish contracts is lingering near its 2023 lows (which were the lows for the past decade). Meanwhile, open interest in calls has been grinding higher, but is only about one-third of its Q1 2021 peak.

It’s not a lock that this positioning is straightforwardly bullish, as calls can be bought or sold to open. But given GameStop’s history as a meme stock darling, it’s a fairly safe assumption that’s the case. Aside from the 2021 mania, most spikes in call open interest relative to puts have occurred during, or just ahead of, big run-ups in the stock.

For this week’s expiry in particular, that ratio of calls to puts is even higher, at 3.85. These derivatives tied to earnings are quite pricey. The implied one-day change following the report is plus or minus about 12.3%. GameStop hasn’t moved that much following either of its past two earnings reports, though it did in the two prior to that.

If you’re more fundamental than flow inclined, there aren’t many analysts putting out earnings estimates for the company. Adjusted earnings per share are expected to come in at $0.09 on revenues of $1.478 billion, with adjusted net income of $33.45 million for its holiday quarter.

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The markets continued to slide on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 finishing lower, while the Nasdaq 100 managed a last-hour rally to finish slightly up.

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IonQ and D-Wave Quantum spike as Jefferies initiates coverage with “buy” ratings

Shares of IonQ and D-Wave Quantum are soaring on Tuesday after Jefferies initated coverage on the stocks with “buy” ratings and price targets of $100 and $45, respectively.

Rigetti Computing, which Jefferies started with a “hold” rating and $30 price target, is modestly lower. These three quantum computing companies are all down between 40% and 60% from their October all-time highs.

All 13 analysts who cover D-Wave have a “buy” (or equivalent) rating, while 75% of the dozen on Wall Street who have a rating on IonQ recommend the stock.

While the speculative AI-linked stocks continue to largely get crushed, this pocket of the market also favored by retail traders is showing some signs of life.

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In investigating the company, “what emerged was a gap between story and substance: a Digital Health business that generates much of its growth by invoicing a different RadNet business line; a same-center sales metric seemingly juiced by undisclosed consolidations; financial disclosures that don’t add up; and insiders using the stock run-up to cash out,” wrote Hunterbrook authors led by Bethany McLean.

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Frontier sinks as longtime CEO, who regularly feuded with United, suddenly departs

Shares of ultra-budget airline Frontier are down more than 10% on Tuesday morning following the carrier’s announcement that it would replace its longtime CEO, Barry Biffle. Frontier President James Dempsey will fill in as interim CEO.

Biffle, who has been Frontier’s CEO since early 2016, will remain at the airline in an “advisory capacity” until December 31. The move is “not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” per a company filing.

Under Biffle, Frontier attempted to acquire rival Spirit twice since 2022 — both unsuccessful. Last week, the carrier’s shares dropped after Spirit’s pilots ratified a lower-paying contract in an effort to keep it afloat through its latest bankruptcy.

Biffle was a staunch defender of the ultra-budget model, which has been falling out of fashion in the US market in recent years. He’s regularly feuded with United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby over comments about budget airlines.

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