GameStop Stock Jumps Nearly 3% as Dan Ives Pitches AI Story Wall Street Has Not Priced Into Cohen's Retailer

GameStop shares rose Friday, putting the video game and collectibles retailer back near the top of its yearly trading range as investors weighed a fresh bullish call from one of Wall Street's best-known technology analysts.

GameStop traded at $26.35 at 10:09 a.m. ET on the New York Stock Exchange, up 73 cents, or 2.85%, from Thursday's close of $25.62. The stock swung between about $25.80 and $26.40 in early trading.

The gain came a day after Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives argued in an investor note that GameStop has an artificial intelligence opportunity the market is overlooking. Ives kept an Outperform rating on the stock with a $32 price target, well above current levels.

"This is the part of the GameStop story the market has not priced," Ives wrote.

Ives tied the AI case to GameStop's collectibles business. The company has become one of the largest partners of trading card grading firm PSA, including buying graded cards from customers in its stores. Those cards then supply GameStop's Power Packs, a high-margin digital vending product.

GameStop shares fell 2.1% on Thursday, the day the note was published, to about $25.02. Friday's move more than reversed that decline.

Turnaround under Cohen

GameStop has spent the past several years remaking itself under chairman and chief executive Ryan Cohen. It has closed underperforming stores, cut costs and leaned into trading cards and collectibles as sales of physical video games decline.

The company is in a very different position than during the 2021 meme stock frenzy, when retail traders sent its shares soaring. GameStop reported net income of $389.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which it said was its highest quarterly profit to date. That figure included a $268.4 million unrealized gain on options tied to eBay stock.

Other analysts have also turned more positive. Brokerage StoneX began covering GameStop on Nov. 2 with a Buy rating, describing the retailer's turnaround as a "transformation hiding in plain sight."

The eBay saga

GameStop's biggest swing of the year was its unsolicited $56 billion cash-and-stock bid for eBay in May, which offered $125 per share. eBay's board rejected the offer, calling it "neither credible nor attractive" and citing concerns about financing, leverage and GameStop's governance.

In August, Bloomberg News reported that Cohen was considering withdrawing the bid and instead pursuing a partnership or joint venture with eBay, possibly including seats on eBay's board. GameStop has built up a roughly 5% stake in the online marketplace.

Volatile year

GameStop shares have traded between $17.79 and $28.30 over the past 52 weeks and were up about 22% for 2026 as of Thursday, before Friday's gain.

Options activity has also drawn attention. Earlier this month, traders opened large new put positions on GameStop that expire in December 2027 at low strike prices of $5 and $3, totalling about 253,000 contracts.

Friday's rise came as the broader market was mixed. The Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 slipped after new wholesale price data, and Nvidia extended its losses after the resignation of chief executive Jensen Huang.

Investors will next look to GameStop's third-quarter results for evidence that collectibles growth and cost cuts can keep profits rising as its traditional gaming business shrinks.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.