Roaring Kitty's Cryptic Dog Post Foreshadowed a Big Trade

The image of a cartoon dog he posted Thursday was a clue. Monday brought the confirmation. Meme stock trader "Roaring Kitty" has taken a leading stake in online pet retailer Chewy, per an SEC filing. CNBC reports Roaring Kitty, born Keith Gill, purchased just north of 9 million shares; they were worth about $245 million as of Friday's close. That's a 6.6% slice of the company, and it makes him the third-biggest Chewy shareholder, per FactSet numbers. The stock surged 20% in pre-market trading Monday, only to turn negative after the bell. The stock is down 5% as of this writing.

Gill is known for his 2021 push of GameStop, and CNBC draws a line between that company and Chewy: GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen founded Chewy. Gill rattled markets in June with a new set of GameStop trades that left him with 5 million shares. It's part of a reentry of sorts for Gill, who returned to social media in May with his first tweet in years. The Wall Street Journal notes the 2021 meme-stock buying frenzy he helped set off included companies like AMC, BlackBerry, and, yes, Chewy, whose stock topped out at $118.68 in February 2021. Last week's close of $27.24 represented a 77% drop, but was up from the record low of $15.44 on May 10—two days before Gill returned to social media. (More Chewy stories.)