American Airlines Climbs 31% As Reddit Traders Shift Attention To Another Heavily Shorted Stock

American Airlines climbed to 31% on Thursday as traders who frequent Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum triggered short presses on a growing list of stocks this week.

“AAL the next GME?” a Reddit user asked in a post on Wednesday.

After successfully ousting the hedge fund managers from GameStop, Reddit investors set their target on other heavily shorted companies.

American Airlines appears to have done the trick, with around 30% of the float being sold short. On top of that, the company had a catalyst to ignite the movement: profits.

On Thursday, the airline operator reported better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter, beating both revenue and revenue estimates.

Shares hit a high of $ 30 in Thursday’s pre-market trading session, which is an 81% gain. And near-term equity gains don’t appear to be slowing down yet, as evidenced by GameStop, which climbed more than 40% Thursday morning to a high of nearly $ 500.

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