Largest Pension in America Buys AMC and GameStop Stock

The largest pension in the U.S. just loaded up on AMC and GameStop (GME) stock.

The pension (Calpers) also increased its position in Warren Buffet’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway and sold 11% from its stake in Palantir Technologies (PLTR).

California Public Employees’ Retirement System more than quadrupled its investment in AMC Entertainment stock during the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Pension holds nearly $470 billion in assets under management and pays billions in health and retirement benefits.

You can say these two short squeeze plays are very different investments when comparing them to a company like Berkshire Hathaway.

In this article I’m going to break it all down for you.

Welcome to Franknez.com – I published an article on 15 financial institutions that bought AMC stock in January. Now the biggest Pension in America has bought the stock.

Let’s dive right into it!

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Calpers buys AMC, GME, and Berkshire Hathaway Stock

According to this SEC filing, the pension bought 503,000 more share of AMC Entertainment stock.

Calpers now has a total stake of 619,400 shares of the movie theatre chain.

AMC Entertainment has come a long way from its struggle in early 2021 when the company came near to bankruptcy.

Today, the company’s high short interest continues to draw millions of retail investors to squeeze shorts from their positions.

And it’s apparently attracting big financial institutions, too.

RenTech is another company that massively increased their position in AMC stock recently.

This financial institution saw an increase of 800% in the stock while it sold off some Tesla stock.

Pension dramatically increases GameStop shares

Calpers bought 70,600 more GameStop shares ending the fourth quarter with a total of 85,400 shares of the videogame retailer.

GameStop recently partnered up with Immutable X for its NFT marketplace, funding $100 million for the project.

NFTs are getting sucked into the mainstream world and is already a $40 billion industry, according to Bloomberg.

These emerging technologies and platforms are going to be the future of communications, investing, branding, copyright, gaming, and so much more.

AMC Entertainment has also dabbled in the NFT world.

The company released their first ever Spider-Man NFT and embracing the innovation.

It seems the pension is following the trends and could be looking towards a long-term play here as the technologies continue to develop.

Related: What are NFTs and how will they change the world?

Calpers also now holds more than 5.6 million shares in Berkshire Hathaway according to this SEC Form 13-F.

The company is up more than 10% in the 6-month chart and over 4% year-to-date.

Why are financial institutions buying ‘meme stocks’?

AMC and GameStop are heavily shorted, even in 2022.

AMC’s short interest is currently at 20.83% and GameStop’s is at 21.05%.

These short interest numbers are considered to be extremely high for stocks.

Squeezing shorts from their positions would yield incredible returns for anyone holding shares.

AMC Entertainment jumped to $72 per share when the short interest was only at 20% last year.

Will we see a similar runup very soon?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Related: Will AMC stock squeeze in 2022? [Short interest data]

And with short sellers under investigation by the Justice Department, hedge funds face intense scrutiny, further feeding the fire to eliminate predatorial strategies in the markets keeping these ‘meme stocks’ from rising.

What we do know is that large institutions such as Calpers and RenTech are following the money.

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‘Meme Stock’ fundamentals

But are these so called ‘meme stocks’ fundamental plays?

Should you buy them despite the high volatility?

Both AMC and GameStop have debt, but both are innovating and tackling their debt.

AMC Entertainment’s CEO Adam Aron announced a debt refinance plan that would allow them to lower their interest rates.

The company also sold a $950 million junk bond to pay off debt this year that is due by 2025.

In this article you can read AMC’s Q1, Q2, and Q3 highlights from 2021 to see how much progress the company is making fundamentally.

The theatre chain also gave a summary for Q4 results, this will be big.

Read: What can we expect from AMC’s next earnings call?

Both AMC and GameStop are out of danger and progressing fundamentally as businesses.

And although a short squeeze play does not require these companies to be doing well fundamentally, it’s great to see they are.

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