Meme stocks not hurting hedge funds -portfolio manager

STORY: Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as "Roaring Kitty," was back in the news on Monday after an SEC filing showed he had taken a 6.6% stake in pet products company Chewy.

Chewy's shares jumped as much as 10% but reversed the gains in volatile trading.

Gill kicked off the meme stock craze in 2021 when his posts about GameStop prompted retail investors to snap up shares, which skyrocketed nearly 700%.

Most of the stocks in the 2021 meme saga, including those of AMC Entertainment, were heavily shorted by hedge funds, a strategy used to bet a stock price will fall.

But hedge funds are less vulnerable this time around due to a lack of "enthusiasm" from retail investors to see them fall, said Stucky.

"At the end of the day, a lot of retail investors lost a lot of money in that in that trade," he said. "I think being burned once starts to eat at you quite a bit."

Instead, Stucky says many retail investor have "pivoted" into "what's been working" this year: "more traditional, megacap tech investments."