AMTD Digital (HKD) listed on NYSE is a Hong Kong-based company that has taken Wall Street by storm. Since the day the stock of HKD was listed, the stock price had skyrocketed by over 14000% when it closed at $1679 on August 2. The IPO price of HKD was $7.8 and in less than a month of trading, the HKD stock has seen an intra-day high of $2555 rising from the lows of $12 on the listing date.
The sky-high price level that the stock achieved in a quick time translated into a huge market capitalization for the company. With a market cap of more than $470 billion at one point this week, AMTD Digital Inc. stood tall among the other stalwarts of the index in terms of valuations.
What has taken the market by surprise is that HKD with revenues of $25 million now has a market capitalization of nearly $203.55B! On a comparative basis, the market cap of HKD is more than Adobe, Cisco, Intel Corporation, or even financial giants like Wells Fargo & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs Group.
In terms of valuation, HKD has moved up to be among the fifth-biggest financial company in the world, trailing Berkshire Hathaway Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.
The volatility in the stock price of AMTD Digital continues. Since August 2, the HKD stock price has fallen from around $2555 and is currently trading at around $846. On Thursday, HKD fell by nearly 27% while on Friday, the stock is up by over 5.5% in the after-hours trading session. The market cap has halved after the stock price plunged below $1000.
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HKD is essentially a provider of digital solutions platforms in Asia with businesses spanning multiple verticals, including digital financial services, SpiderNet ecosystem solutions, digital media, content, and marketing, and digital investments. AMTD Digital Inc. is a controlled subsidiary of AMTD Group Company Limited which in turn is an AMTD IDEA Group.
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The meme stocks phenomenon, it seems, may never end. Whether the AMTD Digital stock qualifies as a meme stock remains to be seen. When a little-known company’s stock witnesses an unimaginable price for no apparent reason and has a large investor’s interest, it’s a perfect case of a meme stock.
Interactive Brokers’ Chief Strategist Steve Sosnick had this to say about AMTD Digital stock – “I’ve been asked if HKD was a meme stock. On the surface, it acts like one. Undoubtedly many of those trading the shares were involved in the various meme crazes, too. But this hasn’t caught the public’s imagination as the meme stocks did. The small float (16 million shares) and lack of listed options make it difficult to consider HKD a true meme stock.”
Whether it’s the Gamestop saga on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum or any other meme stock, retail investors should be wary about the ‘pump and dump’ strategy of big institutional investors.
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