Without a doubt, the meme-stock craze is over for the most part. Nearly all of the former meme favorites, from Gamestop (NYSE:GME) to Ocugen (NASDAQ:OCGN) to Vinco Ventures (OTC:BBIG), have lost the lion’s share of their peak values and are currently struggling, both from a fundamental perspective and in terms of their stock prices.
Still, some names that are arguably meme stocks continue to sport high stock prices and lofty valuations. Many of these equities are in the crypto space. But there are a few outside of that sector, including SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI) and Palantir (NYSE:PLTR). And it is certainly important for investors to steer far clear of the meme stocks that are most likely to crash and burn, leaving their investors with huge losses. Here are three such meme stocks to sell right now.
AMC (AMC)
Predictably, AMC (NYSE:AMC) stock has tumbled sharply in recent weeks and months, losing 43% of its value in the past three months and tumbling a huge 90% over the last 12 months.
There was a great deal of hype about the firm’s movies featuring two very popular singers: Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
But in-line with my previous predictions, Americans’ relative low enthusiasm for movie theaters at a time when most U.S. consumers have tens of thousands of films at their fingertips has resulted in continued negative sentiment towards AMC and AMC stock.
Indeed, in 2023, the number of movie tickets sold in America was still 31% below the level seen in 2019. And it’s not as if cinemas were a thriving or even healthy sector in 2019, when the streaming phenomenon was already well under way.
Meanwhile, AMC still had net debt of $3.7 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2023. In order to avoid paying ruinous interest costs, the firm will probably have to keep selling more shares of AMC stock. That process, in turn, will weigh tremendously on the shares’ value going forward.
Virgin Galactic (SPCE)
Some meme stock investors became excited about Virgin Galactic again last year when the firm started making commercial flights and successfully completed its initial expedition with tourists aboard.
But the company’s third-quarter results, reported on Nov. 8, showed that these activities are still generating very little revenue. Indeed, SPCE’s top line came in at just $1.7 million in Q3.
Moreover, the company expected to burn $125 million to $135 million of cash in Q4, while it had only about $500 million of net cash left as of the end of Q3.
So SPCE is on track to run out of funds later this year. And given the low revenue that it’s generating, it will probably have difficulty borrowing money and enticing investors to buy its shares.
Given these points, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the firm declare bankruptcy in late 2024 or early 2025.
Mullen (MULN)
Electric-vehicle maker Mullen (NASDAQ:MULN) generated a huge $1 billion of losses last year, while its revenue from EVs came in at just $366,000. Obviously, that’s not a very good performance and bodes poorly for the EV maker’s future.
Moreover, the orders reported by the firm in its Q3 earnings press release are not too impressive. Specifically, the company only cited $17.3 million of orders from one U.S. auto-dealer chain, $6 million of electric trucks from unspecified customers, and a 30-unit purchase order from an Irish auto-dealer chain for an unspecified amount of money.
Also noteworthy is that MULN had only $81.5 million of cash on its books as of the end of Q3.
Despite the firm’s low revenue and order totals, its huge 2023 loss, and its low cash total, MULN stock is changing hands at a huge trailing price-sales ratio of 20.
Given all of these points, along with the hyper competitiveness of the EV market, MULN is certainly one of the top meme stocks to sell at this point.
On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
